


FFXV Shifters AU

by TigerNightCat



Series: Final Fantasy Shifters AU [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Ardyn Being Ardyn, Gen, Master & Pet(s) - Non BDSM, Master/Pet, Multi, No ships (yet), Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Not Beta Read, Platonic Relationships, Shifter AU, Ships if you squint starting chapter 15, Slavery, mentions of abuse, shifters as pets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2019-09-24 14:13:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 53,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17102123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigerNightCat/pseuds/TigerNightCat
Summary: Lilliana has been Noctis's pet since he turned 16. Now at age 21, the Empire wants to give the Prince and his Entourage a gift as well. This could prove to be an interesting first meeting.





	1. Meeting the Presents - Part 1

Could anyone be less into these royal events? Probably her owner, but besides him? No one she could guess. She didn’t even need to officially _ be  _ there. She is just there to look exotic and powerful for her owner, and to not embarrass him. If she was so inclined, she can see this as a bodyguard job for the event. Problem was, she was just  _ so dang bored! _

As the official pet to Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum, she was expected to be at his side for every event, even if she never actually did anything during them. She had been gifted to the prince for his 16th birthday, from his father, after being bought at auction in the local Shifter Markets.

Her kind was sought after as prized pets, or some kind of social status booster. The more rare or exotic looking the shifter's animal form, the more money you probably had.

She had been sought after for the fact that, as far as any historians or zoologists were aware of, she was the only one of her kind of shifter in existence. She was as plain and unassuming in her animal form as you could get. No overly large fangs, claws, or horns. No great feathers or whiskers. No flowing fur, or extra limbs. No, she was as white as snow with black stripes crossing here and there along the entire length of her form. She was too small to be a Coeurl, but too large to be a house cat, sitting at a svelte 11 feet long and 500 pounds. When sitting on her haunches she is just under owner's 5'9" form. Plain for a cat of Eos, truth be told.

As for why she was here for this ceremony though, her owner was told he was to be gifted another shifter pet from the Emperor of Niflheim for his 21st birthday and she was to see if they got along right away or if they needed to be separated for a time. "To get used to each other." She never likes being treated like an actual animal, but her owner only really did so in public. He was actually pretty cool, for a normie. She also gets head scratches while the Prince is attempting to be still and regal. She can deal with being petted for an hour or so during these things.

Looking across the Citadel courtyard is usually a tale of sights and sounds, but today it's marred by four extremely large cages. They look like they would be able to contain the Draconian himself, which is saying something because each of the cages contains a solitary human adorned with a golden collar, wrist, and bicep bangles. She assumes they are all shifters, so those collars would be Control Collars, used to subdue a shifter if their owner needs or wants to. She wears one of the collars as well, but her owner has never had to use it on her.

There's no time to look at the human forms though because the man in front of the cages has started speaking and she can't turn away from the flamboyant train wreck of a fashion statement.

_ ‘Seriously, who wears a million scarves and a literal wing unless you're a chocobo? And that hair? Is that natural? He has _ got  _ to be dying it. _ ’ She thinks to herself.

As if he can hear her thoughts, the man takes a short pause and stares directly at her, making eye contact and giving a hint of a glare. The only logical thing for her to do is yawn, showing off her large canines in a show that the Bird Man doesn't intimidate her in the least. She misses the slight frown he gives her while she's blinking sleepily at him. In a world full of literal Gods and Monsters, one human shaped fashion disaster ranks low on her threat meter and she isn't afraid to show it.

The man looks back at his audience and gestures broadly towards the cages. "Your Majesty, Highness and entourage. May I present gifts from the Emperor of Niflheim to commemorate the 21st birthday of his highness, Prince Noctis, and the official formation of his Crownsguard retainers."

"On the furthest left, is for the Shield of the Prince." He gestures grandly at each cage in turn. "This fine brute of a man is known as ‘Dead Eye’ to the locals where he was found. Next we have a sharp minded snake for the crafty Advisor."

"Third we have a special Chocobo for the Choco  _ chic _ of the group" She saw a sneer when he said this, probably trying to get a rise out of the gunner. Prompto bristles a bit at the comment, but stays quiet, watching the man's every move. "And finally is a mystical panther for the cat-loving Prince" His final gesture ends with a flourish of a bow.

The man looks between the prince and his retainers and settles on Ignis. "Would you like to meet your new pet? He's quite tame, I assure you." His hand flits in front of him beckoning  Ignis forward. With his other hand, he gestures towards a few servants who move to open the cage and bring out the man.

The shifter that is brought out of the cage is young. He looks to be about the same age as the one he is going to be given to, no more than 25 at the oldest. He's tall, taller than the advisor by a lot, and wiry, but with a strength behind each movement that contradicts his build. He's glaring daggers at the advisor and every step is stiff with anger. The servants stop the shifter within 50 feet of Ignis and back off a bit. The Bird Man smiles and backs up subtly.

She's not sure what tips her off, but something makes her sit up and prepare to pounce in front of the advisor if need be. It's a good thing she did because all at once the shifter lunges forward and  _ Changes _ . In the blink of an eye, a 40 foot snake/human hybrid is slithering straight for the advisor. She bounds forward and lands in between the snake and the human, bristling and hissing. No one messes with her humans except her and she won’t let anyone start now.

The snake man pauses at the sudden appearance of a shifter protecting a human. His swords at the ready, but he doesn’t move to attack. Behind her, she feels the advisor move closer behind her and the shimmer of crystal magic as he readies his own daggers to back her up. The guards around the perimeter of the area all ready their own weapons, not sure if they should attack or not. The Prince’s pet isn’t attacking and they know if she doesn’t then they usually don’t have to worry about the royals being attacked. She’s earned that trust from them after a few close run ins with monsters and assassins.

She’s vaguely aware that the Bird Man has backed away even further and is watching the exchange with annoyance, but pays him no mind. He’s not the immediate threat to her and her’s. She growls out a fierce “Back Down” at the shifter and takes one step forward. ‘“e’s mine and you won’t take him from me”. None of the humans can understand her but the shifter blinks down at her confused.

“Why? Why protect this normie? He’s caged you as much as that man has me.” The shifter hisses out. It’s understandable by the humans even if it’s heavily drenched in animal tones. She can understand it though, for shifters understand all shifters. The advisor makes a confused and dismissive sound, but she flicks her tail and hits him with it, her universal sign of  _ shut the heck up _ .

“He’s one of the good humans in this place. He hasn’t done anything to wrong our kind” she growls out at him. She changes back into her human form suddenly and without warning. Gaining startled noises from all the humans in the area.

“They are all good humans in this place. They are worth the chance to allow them to prove it.” At that she holds out her hand towards the other shifter. “I swear you won’t be disappointed if you give them the chance.” To her it’s never been a question of her proving to be a good pet to the humans around her. It’s always been the other way around. That they proved that they earned her trust, obedience, and loyalty. Her owner has every day in small ways and she was going to protect him and his in every way she could.

The shifter blinks slowly at her and lowers his weapons. He shifts back down to his human form little by little, size first and then form. The humans are awed by this sight, but she doesn’t turn around and give them attention. The one in front of her is more important at the moment. The danger has passed, but she can’t take the chance with how fast he Changed before. It was impressive, even to her and she’s one of the fastest shifts around.

“How can you be so sure?” He says hesitantly. He looks his age when asking and she smiles gently at him. “My human proves it to me daily. Give them a chance to prove it to you too.”

She can’t see it, but her owner hears that last statement and blushes slightly at her comment. He’s not sure how he proves anything, but he tries his best for her. The other humans around them look between the Prince’s pet and the Prince with slight smiles on their faces. They see it daily and knows she speaks the truth about him.

“What’s your name?” She asks quietly, taking a few steps forward to make it seem like it’s just them talking without an audience.

“My name? That one human says I have none now that I’m property” He snears while saying this. At seeing her roll her eyes at him though, he answers “Justice. My name is Justice.”

“Justice. It suits you.” She turns a half step and gestures behind her. “Welcome to the Citadel. My name is Lilliana. The man behind me is Ignis, the Prince’s advisor. He’s smart and kind and will make lots of treats to make up for this disastrous first meeting.” She looks over at the advisor and quirks an eyebrow at him. He immediately nods in agreement. Beckoning the others of the group over she introduces each in turn. “The blonde over there is Prompto, he’s the gunner of the group. The large behemoth of a man is Gladio, the Prince’s shield, and the one with black hair is my owner, Prince Noctis. They’re all good people and will treat all theirs kindly.”

The young shifter looks over at the other humans while they’re coming up to them and not-so-subtly hides behind the smaller female shifter. His 6’7” frame can’t hope to hide behind her 5’4” stature, but he tries his best to look small and unimpressive. She notices this and hugs the poor boy. 

At that, Ignis calls for the other cages to be opened and LIlliana goes over to each door in turn to make sure the others aren’t going to attack as well. She really doesn’t want to have to stand up to anything bigger than Justice’s form. His was the largest she’s ever been against, and  later she would tell her owner that, truth be told, she was terrified.

Each of the other shifters came out quietly and in slight awe of the tiny, female, tiger shifter. She couldn’t hold a candle to their forms and yet stood against one without backing down. By animal standards, she had just become the Alpha of their little rag-tag group, and they didn’t want to mess with anyone she thought of as her’s. 

The last scent that came to her nose before they all headed inside was that of a disgruntled, angry man. She had to smirk at that because she knew that the Bird Man has lost this round. He might be back later, but she’d be ready for him when that happened.


	2. Meeting the Presents - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilliana meets the new shifters properly this time.

Walking into the Citadel as a human is actually very strange. She’s usually in her animal form, so everything looks smaller and larger all at the same time. The colors are so much more vivid with her human eyes and items that should be taller than her by a few feet are shorter than she’s used to.

King Regis turns around to face his son and asks if they need him there still, to control the new pets. Prince Noctis shakes his head and answers in the negative. He has to take care of this without the KIng and his Shield around. They are their new pets, not the Kings. He does compromise by saying they’ll bring in a few extra guards, just in case.

The Kingsglaive that are chosen are familiar and friendly faces to her, and she’s sure now that this will be as informal an introduction session as they can get away with. The glaive chosen know how her owner and his friends treat her and aren’t against it, even if they all don’t completely agree with it. They trust that she can keep her owner safe though, and that’s what matters to them.

The advisor suggests going to one of the larger conference rooms just in case they want to see the full forms of the new shifters. They can’t very well do that in a tiny office. The other humans agree and the advisor leads the way to one at the very end of a long hallway. She honestly couldn’t say exactly where she was in the building now. She rarely goes out without her owner because of the old fogies that think shifters need to be chained at all times. She doesn’t get along well with those people.

When they enter the room there’s a long table in the middle with chairs on either side. The owners take one side of the table and the pets on the other side. She doesn’t feel like being constrained to much so she takes the head of the table to be a twit. It helps her double as a go-between of the group though, so the advisor only quirks an eyebrow at her and lets her get away with it.

While everyone is settling into their spots at the table, or leaning back comfortably on various walls, she takes her first real look at the new shifters. The one closest on her right is a smaller male, but still taller than her. ‘ _They’re always taller than me’_ she glowers in her mind. He looks to be a bit under 6’ tall but not that muscular. A bit wimpy for a shifter if she was honest. Sortof like her owner when she makes the comparison, and like her owner, the shifter probably packed a punch. She’d bet a week of the leash that he’s more dangerous than he looks.

The lone female of the group sat to his right. She was slightly shorter than all the other shifters, but still taller than Lilly herself. She didn’t back down from eye contact and didn’t look like she could be ordered around easily. Not a bad trait, if you were a normie, as a shifter, that could get you in major trouble. She had an air of nobility around her. One that says she can take care of herself. It would be interesting knowing how that one got caught and collared, but it would be rude to ask.

The snake man was next and he kept looking at the table, glancing up at her, then over to the advisor, and then finally back at the table. It was an endless loop that had her believing he’s a brand new pet, never been in one of the sale houses or on a pet farm. It made her sad to think of it. She at least was in a farm for a while after her Roundup and had learned from the older shifters how she was expected to act and speak, if she was allowed to at all. They had warned her several times that she most likely would never speak again under some Master’s direction.

She shakes her head to remove those thoughts from her brain. ‘ _This isn’t a time to reminisce. This is the time to help these people acclimate to what lies ahead.’_

The one furthest  away is a big man. He’s probably 6’5” or so and muscular. If she didn’t know he was a shifter and had more power behind those muscles than a normal human, she’d say he would give the Shield a run for his money. He has short hair, but not military buzzed and had a set of eyes that sees all even when you think he isn’t paying attention. She would guess that he was probably law enforcement or military of some kind before his Roundup caught him.

Their respective new owners sat across from them. Her owner closest on her left, then the gunner, the advisor, and finally the shield. She smiles at how they ended up in the correct order on both sides of her, but she guesses it’s the advisor’s doing. He’s very good at his job and leaves very little to chance.

She hears the advisor clear his throat and turns towards him. “Before we get started there is one rule that you must follow regardless of all else.” She sees him make eye contact with each of the shifters while speaking. “You aren’t to speak of anything that happens in the private company of myself or these gentlemen. This is not because we worry about mistreatment in the least, but because most of the Citadel contains those from the older generations and they do not agree with anything less than the strictest of treatment for shifters and pets.”

She has to nod in agreement with that statement. Most of the Council and upper staff still have issue with her being off the leash and free to wander even with her control collar on and glowing, meaning that it’s powered on and ready to do its job at a moment's notice. The only ones that don’t have much issue with it, or at least don’t say anything out loud about it, are the guards who have been around her often enough to know she won’t do anything to harm her owner or his people.

The new shifters bristle at this, but for the most part stay silent. The largest man looks in her direction as if to gauge her reaction to the man’s statement. At her nod, he looks back towards the advisor and nods his ascension. The others are more subtle in their glances, but she notices it and has to raise an eyebrow at it all. She mentally shrugs and puts her attention back on the advisor.

“I think introductions are in order here. If we could get your names, ages, and animal forms please. We will introduce ourselves as well.” The advisor states and gestures towards the man closest to her.

She looks over towards the man in question and smiles encouragingly. He redens slightly and coughs to clear his throat. “My name is Genesis. I’m 28 years old and I’m a Coeurl shifter. An Elder Coeurl to be precise.”

A happy sound escapes her before she can stop it and they all look at her. She ducks her head down shipishly, blushing slightly. “Umm. I love coeurls and have always wanted to pet one.” She states quietly.

The man grins at that and states matter of factly. “Good thing I am one then. Your Master is the one who is to take control of my collar as well, correct?”

Both she and her owner nods at that and he answers “Yes. I’m Noctis, 21, and Prince of Insomnia. I’ll hold your collar from now on. Lilly is my first pet and has been since I was 16. You all can go to her for any questions that you want or need answered if you don’t want to go to one of us. She knows a lot of our quirks and can help you guys out a lot.”

The shifters nod at that and the female pipes up next. “I’m Destiny. I’m also 28 and instead of a cat, I’m a chocobo shifter. A very large chocobo shifter.” She startles at the squeal that comes from the blonde gunner in front of her.

“ _Chocobo???_ ” He can’t contain his excitement and all the humans have to laugh at him. “I _love_ chocobos! Can I see it? What color are you? How big are you in your other form?” He rapid fire questions her. “Oh, I’m Prompto by the way.” He barely gets out at the end of his breath.

“Prom, calm down.” Her owner gets out laughing. “Give her a chance to answer and we can see their forms in a bit. Let’s finish the introductions.”

The gunner lets out a chuckle. “Sorry. Yeah, so. I’m Prompto as I said. I’m 20 and I’m the sharpshooter of the group.”

Destiny looks taken aback at his rapid fire questions but regains her composure very quickly. “I’ll show you my form later, Master.”

The gunner’s eyes widen at the title and Lilly sees him bite his tongue not to correct Destiny. She knows he has to get used to the title, at least in public. He will probably correct her later, but for now it looks like he’s trying to swallow his words.

The advisor nods and motions towards the shifter across from him. The man meets the advisors eyes, then looks down at the table. “Justice. 25. Lamia shifter.” The words are practically whispered.

The advisor waits for more, but when it’s obvious no more is forthcoming, he clears his throat. “My name is Ignis and I will be holding your collar, Justice, from now on. I am 23 and the advisor to his highness. If you have any questions on protocols, I am happy to answer.”

The final shifter nods and raises his voice to be heard. “I’m Amaranthine, but since that’s to hard and long to say all the time, call me Mara. I’m 31 years old and a Behemoth shifter. In that form the locals called me Dead Eye because of a scar over my one eye. I can see just fine with both though. You must be my new Master.” He gestures towards the shield, palm up in question.

The shield nods. “Gladiolus, or Gladio. I’m 24 and the Prince’s shield. I take threats to his safety very seriously. The size and shape of that threat doesn’t matter.” Lilly internally rolls her eyes at the shield’s statement. She knows he’s trying to be intimidating, especially to a man that looks like Mara, but she still thinks he sounds a bit over the top.

Mara nods though and states “I have no intention of being a threat to my Master’s charge. I will do my best to prove this to you, Master.”

Definitely military she thinks to herself. No one else would call the Prince the shield’s charge unless they were military or the annoying _nobility_.

She claps her hands together to gather everyone's attention. “Now that introductions are done. How about we see your forms? You’ve already seen my form and we’ve all seen Justice’s form, but we haven’t seen the rest of yours yet.” She looks over towards the advisor questioningly and receives a nod in response. She can feel the Kingsglaive stiffen a bit at her statement but they don’t get out their weapons, yet.

“Smallest to largest?” Destiny asks Lilly and she nods. “Alright. That would probably be me first then.” Destiny gets up and moves towards an open area behind where she was sitting. She nods at the guards, looks back towards Lilly, and then Changes. In place of where the young lady was standing is a very large chocobo. The bird had to be over 10 feet tall and pure gold, the rarest color chocobo in the wild. They would later measure her to be almost exactly 11’3” tall, but for now, she just looked huge to Lilly.

The gunner can’t contain his excitement and rushes over to the bird. He stops just in front of it and Lilly can see how happy he is. He’s doing a little dance with his hands over his mouth, squealing noises coming out of him. Destiny looks down at him and raises one foot then the other, then opens her wings wide, showing off.

Lilly can’t detect any malice from the bird, only happiness at being the center of attention. She does notice that Destiny keeps glancing at her for some reason and she’s not sure why. She dismisses the thought though as all the owners get up and move around the table to get a closer look at the giant bird. She can hear the appreciative noises coming from each of them at seeing such an amazing shifter form.

She gets up and goes over to Destiny. “May I touch you?” She asks. She doesn’t get asked if she could be pet very often when in her animal form, but always appreciated it when it does happen. She gets a nod from the giant bird and reaches up to pet some of the chest feathers. They are so soft. Tiny kitten soft. She can’t help but run her hands over the same patch over and over.

She’s not paying attention when all of a sudden a Kweh happens above her and a beak comes out of nowhere to nuzzle her hair. She laughs and pets the head happily, giving all the attention a big bird could want. A few minutes later she mentions to the others that they should probably meet the other shifter forms and Destiny Changes back into her human form despite Prompto’s unhappy noises at the chocobo going away.

Genesis gets up next and moves away from the group by a little. “I’m longer than I am tall, so I will need the room if you don’t want me to shift on top of you. You may touch as soon as I’m finished, if you like.” He looks directly into Lilly’s eyes and in the owner’s general direction during his last statement.

His changes start subtly with first his eyes changing to a vibrant yellow-green shade and fur sprouting on his skin. His hair changes color to a pure white and spots appear all over him.

Lilly has to smile at the control that Genesis has over his shifting. It’s very hard to change only one or two things at once. She can do it, but it took years of practice and willpower for her to learn. _He must practice a lot, or is a natural show off._

He finally finishes his Change into a coeurl form but can’t stop the size shift any longer as he shoots from a tiny 5 foot long cat into a 20 foot long Elder Coeurl. He immediately puts his whiskers on the floor and lays down trying to look as docile as possible.

She can barely contain her excitement better than the gunner could when Destiny changed. She takes a deep breath and slowly goes forward reaching out a hand. Genesis meets her half way by putting his nose into her hand, startling a giggle from her. She moves her hand to the top of his head and starts petting him gently. She loves the feeling of softness. It’s better than she imagined. Her hand starts vibrating as a loud roar of a purr starts coming from the overgrown cat. She smiles even bigger and moves closer for two handed petting.

She looks over at her owner, who was on Genesis’ side touching one of the whiskers. She smiles at him, and he smiles back, a kid in a candy store. “This is so cool!” Her owner is such a dork sometimes, but she can’t help but agree.

“Time for you Mara.” She suggests after a bit. She doesn’t want to stop petting the big cat, but knows if she doesn’t stop now, she probably never will.

He nods at her and gets up. “Is there a bigger room than this around? He’s big, I’m bigger. I will probably hit the ceiling and destroy the table if I change in here.” He looks over at her, then his new owner, waiting for an answer.

The shield thinks for a second. “We can probably use the throne room. The King won’t be in there right now and that is the largest room in the building. Ignis?” He looks over at the advisor questioningly.

The advisor nods and leads the way out of the room. When they get to the throne room, Mara walks directly to the center of the room and Changes. They had all seen a behemoth before, but never up close and personal like this. If he hadn’t been turned away from them everyone probably would have drawn their weapons and attacked out of reflex. As it was, there were shouts of dismay that came from the human forms below the behemoth.

She can feel Mara’s anxiety at Changing in such an enclosed place, but can see he has the discipline to control it. He’s extremely still and doesn’t move in any way while waiting for them to take a look at him. She moves under him carefully and up the stairs in front of him.

 _That must be why he’s called Dead Eye_ she thinks to herself. He is huge and there’s a giant scar running down the left side of his face, overlapping his eye. It looks like his eye is hurt but she remembers him saying that he can see just fine out of both eyes. His left horn is also broken off part way. He must have been in some battle to have lost something that strong looking.

His eyes look down and follow her, but he doesn’t move his head in the least. She smiles at him encouragingly, then looks down at the others. They’re all clustered around his legs, touching the muscular appendages and looking excitedly at each other. “ _I keep forgetting that they’re just kids some days”_ she thinks fondly.

When they look like they’ve had enough and moved out from under the giant dog, she looks back up and makes eye contact. “You’re safe to change back if you like. They’re out of the way.” She sees him nod minutely and Changes back. It’s not as smooth as any of the others, but with his background, she guesses that he has no need for flashy, just functional.

She sits at the top of the stairs for a minute more, just watching them below. They’ve separated out slightly, each owner with their respective shifter. She’s happy to watch them get to know each other and talk excitedly among themselves. She looks towards the main door when everyone stiffens and look towards it. The doors are groaning open to admit someone, or a group of someone's, into the room.

All the shifters move to slightly behind their owners and put their heads down. They were probably given the same instructions that she was when she was in the farm. Keep your head down, don’t draw attention to yourself, stay behind and to the side of your owner at all times. She hates that they have to, but understands it’s to keep them all safe.

She stays seated and watches the big shield, Clarus, and a few others she doesn’t recognize, enter the room. She can hear him demanding answers from his son as to why they are in here instead of in the room where they were left. She glowers at him from her perch but doesn’t move any as to not attract attention herself. She’d get in big trouble if he saw her so far from her owner with strangers around. He already doesn’t like that she has more freedom than most. He’s not a traditionalist, but he’s bad enough when new people are around.

The shield must’ve given his father good enough answers because the big shield storms off and the doors close behind him. She decides it’s safe enough to get up and go down to her owner and the others at that point. She notices the glances from the shifters and the subtle movements of them facing her slightly, but thinks nothing of it as her attention is on the shield and her owner.

“Time to go to my room” her owner announces as he’s moving towards the doors. Everyone files out behind him, the normies first, then the shifters. She gives them an odd look when they let her through them and follow behind her instead of their respective owners.

“What’s up? Why are you looking at me?” She asks them when they get to her owner’s room. They’ve been following _her_ the entire time, not the owners. This isn’t normal to her at all and she finally has to ask.

“Nothing, Alpha. We’re just following your directions.” Justice quietly answers before any of the others.

She stops moving into the room and blinks, turning around slowly. “What did you just call me?” She asks.

“Umm…. Alpha?” he’s extremely hesitant in answering, ducking his head and trying to look as small as his tall frame can.

The owners attention is caught by now and she can feel them look at her questioningly. She just stares at Justice for another few seconds. Stunned into silence. She could never have predicted this happening. She didn’t want it. She was not a leader in any way. Why did they think her Alpha?

“I am not your Alpha. I’m not. No. No way am I going to be responsible for that. No.” She’s stammering and she knows she’s stammering but she can’t help it. She looks at each of the new shifters in turn and sees the same thing in each of their faces. “No. I’m not an Alpha. I’m not even dominant. Why would you even think that?” She’s a bit more frantic as she sees each of them in turn and finally recognises their submissive postures. Their heads just slightly lowered, their eyes looking below her eyes and not meeting hers directly.

“What’s wrong Lilly?” Her owner asks, puzzled.

She turns to him and throws an arm out indicating the shifters. “They think I’m their Alpha. They think I’m the leader of their pack. That I’m in charge.” Her eyes are wide in slight panic that she can’t quite control.

“And that means, what exactly?” He’s still confused and looks at the other shifters.

“It means, Sir, that we defer to her in all decisions and orders besides our Master’s” Mara speaks up. “She has proven that she’s the strongest of us. Size doesn’t matter in this case. She stood firm in the face of true danger and didn’t flinch. It takes something special to do that and we each have decided that she is to be Alpha because of it.”

She whirls back around to them and puts her hands up “No. I’m not an Alpha. You’re mistaken” She can’t take it. She doesn’t want the responsibility. She can barely keep track of herself. Bravado is all she has. She’s not a leader. She turns and immediately walks away towards the study shaking her head.

Justice looks stricken at his Alpha’s denial of him. He’s the Omega of the group and wants his Alpha to be happy he’s around. Not consider him a burden. Mara puts his hand on Justice’s shoulder. “She’s probably never had a pack before. She’ll get  used to it. Until then, just don’t call her Alpha directly. She hasn’t rejected you.” He’s trying to sound as confident as possible, but even he feels a slight tug of sadness.

“Is there anything we can do to help? I don’t quite understand what’s just happened, but we can try our best to remedy the situation.” Ignis asks, looking between all the shifters remaining.

Genesis shakes his head slowly. “Not really, Sir. It’s something she has to work out for herself. It is a shifter thing and not one to be taken lightly. We are pack animals. Someone has to be Alpha, someone has to be Omega. As much as we would like to not, it’s a natural order of things for us.”

The owners make some soft noises of understanding and the prince follows his pet, calling out for Lilly softly.

“I can’t do it. I can’t take care of them. I can’t even take care of myself without you around, Master.”  It’s said quietly. She’s in the single comfy chair in the room, head laid on the back staring up at the ceiling. Her arms are lax on the armrests and one leg tucked up next to her. She looks tired beyond what he’s seen of her in a long time.

She must be stressed, she never referred to him as Master unless they’re in formal public.

“Is there anyway to not be an Alpha, but still take care of them? You know more than they do about everything here. Isn’t that a kind of leadership? One that you’ve done plenty of times with us when we need to know more about shifters in general.” Her owner states just loud enough for everyone in the apartment to hear. He’s trying to give them ideas while calming down his pet. Thankfully it works on all of them to a degree.

She looks sideways at him, head not lifting from the chair, then back up at the ceiling. “It’s not the same. Any of you can do that and not be Alpha. This is more than that. Why did I have to not back off?” This last bit is said almost to herself, quietly and exasperated.

Her Master walks over and kneels down in front of her. “You didn’t back off because that’s the way you are. You were protecting Ignis from something he wouldn’t have been able to protect himself from. You’d do it the exact same way if it happened again. I know you would” He smiles at her and offers her a hand. “Let’s go back out. You have a pack to show around and friends to help you.”

She gives him a smirk back, knowing he’s right. She would do it all over again if she could. She’d never let her or hers get hurt. Maybe she could convince them to not make her Alpha, but for now, she needed to help the newcomers acclimate to life as Royal Pets.


	3. Questionable Content

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new shifters get some of their fears assuaged and Lilly shows some bite

She was going to kill them. She was going to kill them all. There was no reason for her not to. Her owner wouldn’t mind, she’s sure. Though he might be included in her murder. The shield would be an issue, but he’s still human, and laughing. The advisor would be first. The shield second. Her owner and the gunner would be a toss up for third and fourth.

The reason she was planning murder was holding up a cheese grater and commenting how, “Grate” it was for them to all be in the same place and how “Purrfectly wonderful” their first meetings went. The puns were getting worse as the night wore on. She could tell the advisor was nervous about having the new shifters around in on such short notice, but she couldn’t take much more of this. The table wasn’t going to survive if she heard one more bad pun. And then he did it. “Did you see Genesis’s whiskers?” Ignis said, while holding up baking whisks.

“Ok. Sirs. Out! Especially you, Ignis. Let me talk with them.” She finally broke and yelled at them, pointing towards the hall. They just blinked at her. She rarely ever raised her voice at them, and had never yelled at them in frustration before.

“Look, you’re all new at this. I know you didn’t expect to have pets now. I didn’t expect to have a pack now. Ignis, your puns are getting worse and worse, which means you’re getting nervous about all this. Gladio, you’re not stopping him so you’re worried too. Prompto, you’re attempting to pun on Ignis’s usual level. The only one who has any experience with actually owning a pet is Noctis. Please, go into the other room and talk and ask him about things. Let me answer their questions while he answers yours. If you still have questions after that, I’ll answer them.”

“That might be for the best. I’m sorry Lilliana.” Ignis said slowly, then motioned for the humans to leave. They all filed out of the room to head down the hall. She heard the click of a door and took a deep breath to steady herself.

 _Ok, you can do this Lilly. You remember your first few days and wished you had a guide to ask questions of. Let’s do this._ She left the kitchen and joined the other shifters in the living room.

“Hey guys. Sorry that took so long. So. Questions? You have them. I should have answers.” She sat down on the floor next to the coffee table to get on the same level as they were. They hadn’t taken the chairs or sofa and she didn’t want to loom over them.

The four glanced at each other then looked back at her. “Are they alright? You seem fine, and the one said they weren’t going to hurt us…. “ The one named Destiny asked hesitantly.

“Were they truthful about that?” The one named Genesis asked right after.

She looked between all of them, making eye contact with each of them. “Yes. They are good, and kind, and firm when needed. I won’t lie. There are days that I want to pull my hair out, but it’s never because of them. It’s because of the ones outside of this group. The four of them have never laid a hand on me in any way. They talk their way out of problems and have never used coercion or force to make me do something. They certainly all have their own quirks I’ve learned to work with both in and out of public, but I haven’t regretted becoming his.”

“What are they like? The one scares me.” Justice said, head down, staring at the coffee table.

“Gladio? He scared me too, in the beginning. He’s Noctis’s shield or protector. His whole family is huge like him. He practices weapons and martial arts daily and trains the others in their respective weapons of choice. He likes to read and goes through a book a week. He also loves discussing philosophy or really anything.”

“And the tall, thin one. He called himself Ignis if I remember right.” Genesis asked after Lilly had paused.

“He’s strict, analytical, and smarter than anyone I’ve ever met. He loves to debate Gladio on the finer points of anything and everything. They’ve been friends since they were tiny. He cooks like a wizard and you will never go hungry with him around. He actually handmade all the snacks we had today. He’s also the advisor to Noctis and has been so since he was six if I remember right.”

“What about the sunshine kid? He seems obsessed with chocobos.” Destiny prodded.

Lilly had to laugh at that. “Yes. Yes he is. Prompto loves those bright birds more than life itself it seems. He’s a photographer, artist, and Noctis’s best friend. That boy would walk through fire for his friends and come out just as bright and happy on the other side. He’s the one who made me feel the most at home when I first was gifted. He would probably hurt himself before even thinking of hurting another person.”

“What about the Prince?” Mara hadn’t piped up the entire time, just listening and taking it all in.

She had to think for a minute and chose her words slowly and carefully. “Noctis is the one who took me the longest to figure out. One minute he’s withdrawn into himself, the next he’s smiling and laughing like a kid. It’s all thanks to Prompto I think, though they all had a small part in it. He’s been isolated because of his position so human interaction outside of formal settings isn’t normal to him. He’s grown up with shifters around only as pets, but because he’s been so isolated, he got to know a bunch of us and treats us like we aren’t pets. He treats us like any other two legged person. He’s earned my loyalty by word and by action.” Half way through her answer, she got up and started pacing. She didn’t even try to hide the emotion in her voice.

She smiled at them from her where she had stopped pacing after she finished her answer. She was about to ask if they had any more when there’s a knock on the front door. _Who could that be?_ She turned toward the door and stared at it. There’s another knock, and she throws out a hand to stop any movement by the other shifters. “Stay there. Don’t move.”

“What’s wrong?” Mara asked, shifting his weight to one knee to move quickly if needed.

“Don’t. Stay there. There shouldn’t be anyone knocking at the door. Owners get at least three to five days to get used to their new pets.” There’s another knock and she moved closer to the door. _There shouldn’t be anyone to see Noct. Ignis would know if the King was to arrive. Who could it be?_ “Stay down. Act like you’re chained to the table. Don’t get up. I don’t want anyone doing anything stupid on either end.”

She reached for a leash clipped directly to the wall near the door and clips it to the back of her collar. It was there just in case this exact situation happened. There was a small switch behind a plant that she pushed into the ‘On’ position. This button turned on a light in the study to say there was someone at the door. She may not be be allowed to answer the door like a normal person, but with her being the Prince’s pet, she was allowed to detain any visitors until someone else got there.

She opened the door a crack to see who was outside, bracing it with her foot so it can’t open more than she wanted it to. Her eyes widen slightly at who it was, and she reaches over and flips the switch three times in rapid succession. _Master…. Get out here….._

She opened the door a bit more and received a sneer in reply. “Let us in, _pet_.” The councilman ordered her.

She opened the door fully and took a step back, staying in their way so they couldn’t go wherever they pleased. They all filed into the entryway, some of them even brought their pets with them as extra muscle.

She stood her ground and growled at them when a few of them tried to get around her. She was the smallest in the group, but she was not letting them bowl her over. She hated these idiots. This was _her_ turf. She ran the show even if she couldn’t address them directly.

 _Where are they?_ The owners still haven’t shown up and she couldn’t keep the intruders there much longer. She growled once more as they tried to get by her and barked out, “Justice. Get your Master. Now.”

The man stood up and dashed down the hall to find the owners without question. She could hear a door open and voices drifted back towards them. The owners walked out unhurriedly only a moment after. She didn’t turn or move from her post as barrier to their home. A low growl could be heard from her keeping the other shifters submissive to her.

“Down Lilly. We’re here. Good job girl.” Noct called out to her, walking towards the group. “What are you doing here? We have three days at least without interference from anyone, no exceptions.”

She backed up and got to one knee in front of her Master. A hand came out to pet her hair reassuringly while they all waited for the answers.

“Your _dear_ advisor was attacked today. We just wanted to make sure everything was alright with the new, _animals_ , around.” The councilman sounded so sarcastically insincere that even the pets in his group glanced up at him disbelievingly.

“Right. You just wanted to invade our personal space to find something to use later. No. You are leaving now. Do not bother us again or I will call my father on this infraction of protocol.” The prince unhooked the leash from her neck and left the rest to Ignis to figure out. She didn’t follow until her Master called for her to.

Five minutes later, the intruders shuffled out the door, ushered away by Ignis and Gladio. Prompto and Justice are all over Lilly making sure she was okay and unhurt. “I’m fine, I’m fine. Leave me alone you two.” They didn’t listen to her very well.

Noctis was sitting at the kitchen counter, head in his hands nursing a headache that the invaders started. “Why did they show up? What could they gain from this?”

Gladio and Ignis couldn’t answer him but Ignis stated he would look into it.

“Ignis, lock the door. Unless there’s an absolute emergency, no one is to come into or leave these rooms. Anyone who needs us can call one of us.” Noct ordered his advisor who was still near the door. The lock clicked right after and the advisor joined him in the kitchen.

The other shifters had remained around the coffee table the entire time, watching and listening. Destiny was the first to comment “Alpha” in a whisper to the others. The others nodded in agreement but don’t say anything more. Justice lead Lilly to the lone chair in the room and encouraged her to sit down, taking the spot at her feet. She relaxed into the chair thankfully and didn’t even realize it when she began running her hand through his hair.

Noct walked into the room and smiled at the sight. She did that to him and the others sometimes when she was stressed and didn’t want to show it. It felt good to be petted like that and she loved it too when they do it to her in return. He slowly snuck over to them and crouched down next to Justice, making motions for him to stay where he was. He whispered into the man’s ear, “Give her a foot and ankle massage if you really want her to relax.”

Destiny shuffled over and Noct motions to her hands and arms. Dusty got the hint and started massaging one of her arms. Mara came over and started on the other arm. Genesis came up behind the chair and started carding his fingers through her hair, gentle nails scratching just right.

 “You guys are evil.” She states with absolutely no malice behind it. “I’m fine. Just a little stressed. You can stop anytime now.”

Genesis laughed quietly, “You say that, but you’re not moving, and you’re purring, my lady.”

“Now that we have a jello kitty on the chair there how about a get-to-know-you session? We know you’re shifters but that’s all we know.” Prompto suggested, sitting on the couch. “I mean. Do you like to read, play cards, sports?”

“Sounds like some cheesy camp activity” Gladio teased, but sat next to him anyway. “Since it’s your idea, you go first.”

“Okay! Hi, my name is Prompto. I love photography, chocobos and Kings Knight. My weapons of choice are firearms and I run every day.”

They each take turns reintroducing themselves and saying some likes or dislikes depending on what they felt like at the moment.

Mara turned out to be a history buff and promptly got into a debate about the fall of Solheim with Gladio.

Destiny loved hanging out with other chocobos in her shifted form. Prompto couldn’t be happier to find a new excuse to be among his feathered brethren.

Justice liked playing strategy games and was challenged to a Best of Five chess match by Ignis.

Genesis had never played a videogame before and Noct was delighted to have a new victim to play with.

Each owner and pet pair separated slowly to different rooms to get to know each other more.

Lilly retrieved the latest book she had been reading and curled up in her favorite corner of the living room, a nest of pillows and blankets, to read. She would look up occasionally and see Genesis concentrating very hard on the new game and Noct shouting encouragement and suggestions to him. She had to smile at their antics.

The advisor and Justice came out of the study eventually and started on dinner properly. They were discussing the games they had played and didn’t notice her watching.

The smell of food lured Prompto and Destiny out of the back rooms. He was still grilling her about the inner mind of chocobos and pulling feathers out of his hair. Lilly stifled a giggle as she realized he must have asked her to Change and had played with her feathers.

Gladio and Mara appeared magically, still debating intently. Though their topic had changed to that of Niflheim technology and it’s everyday usefulness.

Ignis called out ten minutes until dinner and asked everyone to help set up the table. The new shifters stilled and looked uncomfortable.

 _Shoot. I forgot that we were taught to never touch a normies plates or food._ She started to get up when Noct surprised her.

“There’s not enough room at the table for everyone. Why don’t we move the coffee table and have a picnic in the living room. We can look online for a new larger table after dinner for us to get tomorrow.”

 _He remembered,_ she thought quietly to herself. Her first few days were him trying to convince her to get up off the floor and eat with him as a human being. He eventually went down to her level and that went the furthest to convince her that he was sincere about trying to be equal behind closed doors.

“Justice. There are some blankets in the hall closet. Would you go get those while we move the furniture? Destiny and Genesis can help carry the plates and utensils.” Ignis quickly caught on and started giving marching orders to everyone.

“Lilly help me carry out the food, please.” She heard from the kitchen. She reluctantly got up from her comfy spot and went to help out. The shifters watched her out of the corner of their eyes to make sure it was actually safe to touch things. As soon as she started pulling things out of cupboards, they visibly relaxed.

She had to push on a few shoulders to get them to sit down next to the normies, but she eventually had everyone seated and talking again.

Rocky start via the council. Smooth sailing a la Ignis’s cooking. She could live with that.


	4. Snakes in a Suite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Points to Lilliana for guessing the first one to break and try to get out of this situation.

She knew it was coming. She expected it from all of them to a degree. She was hedging her bets to herself on who would explode first.

Genesis and Destiny had their secrets. They seemed too well put together to be the first to break. It would be a toss up as to which of those two would be first to do so.

Mara was too military to let his emotions run rampant, so he would probably be last, if at all.

That left Justice. The youngest of the bunch and who seemed to have little to no experience about being a pet or a captive. His attacking first and asking questions later first meeting attested to this. She didn’t know when it would happen though, and that worried her.

The suite that Lilliana, her owner, and his retainers lived in was a large eight bedroom monstrosity. Twelve to twenty foot ceilings throughout, project rooms, way too many closets to appease the organizational happy advisor. There was even a pool that spanned the length of the living room with windows out to the crystal’s light. This place was amazing to be honest, and she sounded like a realtor even to herself when she thought about the place.

The one thing the place needed when she got there, and she had asked her owner to add right away, were perches for a smallish coeurl. She needed perches so she didn’t go crazy from boredom in this place.

The one perch her owner never quite understood was directly above the hallway to the human’s bedrooms (“Why would you want a ledge in the middle of the ceiling???”). She would have a bedroom on the other side of the suite, but she liked mooching warm bed spaces and couches to much to actually settle in one.

This perch though, was straight up and no human could reach it. It was reinforced to hold her weight fully shifted and everyone forgot it was there. No one  _ ever _ looked up. She’s caught a few wanna be assassins by jumping down on them from that perch. She has also caught Prompto unawares many a time and each time was such a treat that she can’t help but do it again when possible. The squeak madeit so worth it.

Tonight was the first night with the new shifters and they were staying in the empty rooms on the other side of the suite. She had shown them the rooms and let them decide who wanted to stay where. Noctis and the other humans didn’t have a preference where they stayed and flatly refused to lock them into the rooms unlike other normies outside of their group. It was normal for pets to be locked in or chained up for the night, but her humans didn’t believe in that.

She was lightly dozing up on that particular perch as a human for the night. Her owner had wanted her to sleep in his room tonight (she had a custom made kitty bed in the corner of the room) and lock the door. She didn’t want to. She felt she could do more good watching the hallway rather than just the one room. Though all five of them, the humans and her, could probably fit in his bed. That thing was ginormous. 

A soft noise catches her attention and she rolls over onto her stomach looking down over the edge of the perch. On the other side of the room, slowly coming towards her, is a 40ft snake.  _ It’s Justice. He must’ve stress changed or he’d be on two legs instead of no legs right now. _

Right before the snake gets to below her location she calls down softly and firmly, “And where do you think  _ you’re _ going?”

The man stops and looks around to his left and right and then finally up.  _ No one ever looks up right away _ . “What are you doing up there?” He hisses out at her.

“I’m watching for strange activity. Like a giant reptile going towards my owner’s rooms.”   


“I have no quarrel with the humans. I just want the control and then I’m gone.” He started to go forward to the hallway again and she growled him to a halt.

“Don’t even think about it. You won’t get five feet outside of this room before the guards catch you. You can’t go out the windows, we are way too high up to survive such a fall. Let alone getting through the city and out the wall.” She lifted up onto her hands and knees, leaning over the ledge a tiny bit more trying to get her point across with not just her words.  _ I won’t even mention that Ignis would gut you like a fish, without even breaking a sweat, I’d bet. _

“I’ll be able to get out through the window. I can cling to the wall like other reptiles can. I refuse to be treated like an animal and locked away for another’s pleasure. You are in the way. Let me pass.”

She held up fingers while counting off her points, “First of all, cool. I’d love to see that eventually. Second, you don’t know where the control is, and even if you did get it, all the other humans that have one can and will use it on yours. They work on all collars within range to a degree so you’ll hurt more than just you when it happens. Third, I’m still not letting you pass.”

The snake rose up and his head brushed the ceiling as he met her face to face. “What can you do? You’re not Alpha. You’re just a pathetic house cat, broken and docile to your master’s whims.”

She narrowed her eyes at him dangerously.  _ Wrong thing to say buddy. _ Her hand darted out faster than the reptile could react. She gripped his neck hard enough her half Changed claws broke skin. “I may be a house cat, but I’ve never been docile or broken. You don’t ever threaten me or mine again.” She slowly squeezed harder. Hard enough that he started thrashing in her grip but she never lost grip or form. “Stronger idiots than you have tried and failed to pass me. I am not your Alpha, but I am their defense and you’re not getting past me for any reason.”

“I’m not going to be a slave to those  _ humans _ . I will get out of here.” He bit out. He grasped at her arm, trying to get her to release him. She was much stronger than he ever expected a half turned shifter to be. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he’s not holding back either. She still wasn’t moving.

She scooched forward and jumped off the perch, reptile still in hand. He was forced to fall with her and she landed softly, bringing him down to her level. “Calm down already. I don’t want you to knock anything off the walls. I’ll be blamed for it later.”

He slowly stopped thrashing, barely missing some of the paintings. When he finally came to a complete stop, she let him go with a shove. He fell back coughing and checking his throat, making sure everything was where it should be. She toook a look at her hand and makes a face at the blood under her nails.

“Give them two weeks. If after two weeks you still see them in the same light, I will personally take you out to the front gates. I won’t be able to do anything about the collar though.”

He lets out a ragged breath. “Why should I give them any chance at all? They cornered me, slaughtered my nest, and caged and tortured me.”

She shook her head at him, “Because these guys didn’t do any of that. That was the Empire and the hunters. I know you don’t trust me as far as I can throw you, but you give them a chance and if at the end you still don’t see them different, I’ll get you out somehow.”

She watched as he took a long, hard  look at her, then down the hall, then back down at her, calculating his next move. “You would kill me without a second thought, wouldn’t you. To protect those normies.” It wasn’t a question.

“Without even a first thought. They’re mine. I protect what’s mine to the bitter end. I may be a flawed cat, but these claws will never fail me and mine. You may take me out, but you’re going down with me.”

He gave a slow nod. “I’ll take your two weeks and see what they do to encite such loyalty from a shifter.” He slowly shrunk and turned back to human. He reached up and tenderly felt the claw marks on his neck. “You’re stronger than you look. For a flawed cat.”

“And you’re weaker than you look, for a snake your size. Now get out of my sight and back to your rooms. I don’t want to have to explain why there’s blood on the floor and a body to hide if you decide to keep going with this stupid idea of yours.”

She watched as he examined her for another minute then blinked as if he figured something out. He backed away slowly until he was a safe distance away and then turned around and walked out of the room towards his.

She waited a few more minutes to be sure he won’t turn back around and let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding. She Changed back into her cat form and jumped back up onto her ledge for more guard duty.  _ It’s going to be a long night if anyone else shows up,  _ she thought as she settled down.

Her peace was interrupted a few moments later, as Mara walked into the area. She watched him hold  his hands up in the universal, ‘I Surrender’ position so she didn’t do more than growl softly. Her patience was wearing thin and she just wanted to relax for the night.

“You did good with the kid. He’s new and jumpy and you talked him down like a pro.” Mara praiseed quietly looking up in her general direction but not making eye contact. He was trying his hardest to not push any instinct buttons in challenge.

She huffed a sigh and Changed back into her human form for the second time that night. “I did nothing but tell the truth. If he had continued I would’ve defended mine to the death. If he still feels that way after two weeks, I’ll take him outside. I’m a man of my word. I’ll do it for any of you as well. It might be less dramatic if I can talk to the owners about it first, but I’ll do it regardless.”

She saw him nod once. “Did you want a second guard so you can get some rest for the night? I have no plans on fighting this collar to Gladiolus, and this house is such a change of pace from my last one. I quite like it and it’s only been a day.”

“No. This is mine. I’ll stand guard until daylight, when they can protect themselves. Stick around if you want, but I don’t require assistance. Thank you for the offer.” At that she Changed back into feline form and went back to sleepy sentry mode. She heard him settle down next to the wall and become still.

She couldn’t see it with her eyes closed, but he passed the time counting the stripes that he can see on her body and thought about what he’d learned watching this interaction between an active threat and his Alpha’s family. The rest of the night passed quietly, if not quite quickly.


	5. Pancakes mean it will all be OK

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after, the shifters start to see the humans in a different light.

Prompto was always the first one up and awake during the week. He was wired to get up and run daily ever since Junior High. He sometimes tied Ignis for being up and moving, but he was always the first one to be coherent. Ignis needed his Ebony just a tad bit too much to be considered human in the mornings. So it was no surprise when he was up at the crack of dawn ready and raring to go out and jog the track or the gardens or somewhere outside of the suite he called home with his three human friends and his best friend’s pet.

  
What was a surprise was seeing a strange man sitting in the hallway entrance staring up towards the ceiling. When he opened his mouth to ask who the man was, he remembered yesterday’s drama like a splash of cold water. Mara the shifter was sitting in the hallway looking up.

  
Mara noticed the gunner and put a finger to his lips in a shushing motion then pointed up. Prompto looked up and had to bite his lip hard to stop from laughing. There, on her favorite perch, was Lilliana in cat form. Her head was hanging off the edge of the perch as was one leg, one paw, and her whole tail. If that wasn’t cute enough to see a huge cat in full, deep slumber mode, her tongue was out in a blep and _she was snoring._ She must be tired if she was _snoring_.

  
Prompto carefully drew out his phone and opened the camera app. Raised it to get the perfect shot, and _Shoot forgot to turn off the sound!_

  
At the sound of the camera shutter going off Lilly bolted awake. She forgot where she was though and in her mad dash to wake up and get up, she sort of missed the perch entirely and fell as gracefully as a startled animal could fall. Thankfully her reflexes kicked in even though she was mostly asleep and she landed on all fours. The suite shook from her hard fall but she was unharmed. She blinked rapidly looking around her and when she saw Mara and Prompto looking at her, all but laughing their heads off, she huffed and started grooming like she meant to do that. _I am so getting them back for this later._

  
Prompto finally gave up the fight and started laughing so hard he had to double over. He rarely got to see her like that and it was worth the revenge for every picture and video he got. This one was going up on their wall somewhere. He got the blep!

  
Moments after the quake stopped in the suite, Gladio and Ignis came running into the hall from one side and Justice, Destiny, and Genesis came dashing into the room from the other side of the suite.

  
“What the bloody hell was that?” Ignis demanded.

  
She didn't make eye contact as Mara answered, “It was a falling furball,” and tries to sneak out of the room without being noticed. Not exactly possible for the giant kitty. She quickly became the center of attention and her ears fell back and she attempted to not look guilty.

  
“Lilliana, we are going to have a chat about you pouncing Prompto later.” Her muzzle pulled back in a small snarl at that. _I didn’t do anything to Prompto this time_. _Don’t blame me_ , but she couldn’t defend herself while in feline form.

  
“Mara what are you doing in the hallway?” Ignis asks, finally realizing who was answering his question.

  
“I was keeping miss Lilliana company. She was keeping an eye out for any disturbances during the night and I offered to help her stay awake.” He hadn’t moved from his spot on the floor next to the wall.

  
_Ok enough already, time for vocal chords_ and she Changed back into human form. She was sitting cross legged on the floor with her arms crossed. If she had to describe anyone else she’d say they were pouting, but this was her. She doesn’t pout. “I did not pounce Prompto and yes Mara was keeping me company for the night. Can we have breakfast now? If not, I’ll be in the pool.” She got up and started to go towards the doors to the pool off the hall.

  
“Not in cat form you’re not!” Ignis called after her. “The last time you did you clogged up the filter for a week!”

  
“It was Spring! I was shedding. I lost ten pounds in fur that week. It felt _amazing_.” She called back. She knew she had an audience and should probably not shout back at the advisor, but if they were going to make the new shifters comfortable, they had to act like normal. After living with them for five years, banter like this was normal, if only in private.

  
Ignis trailed after her, veering off towards the fridge to get breakfast started for the gaggle of adults. She could hear him muttering about cats and coffee while he walked away and she had to smile at riling him up. She meandered over to one of the couches across from the kitchen table and sprawled on it sideways.

  
“You shed as well?” Genesis had wandered over and was looking at her from over the back of the couch. “Worst time of the year, am I right?”

  
“Ugh, yes! The iching and the fur and the having to clean up after it all. Can’t I be like one of those trees that loses all their leaves on the same day? Then I wouldn’t have to deal with it all” She was being as dramatic as she can possibly be without falling off the couch and Genesis was chuckling at her antics.

  
“So what was that conversation about last night?” Genesis asked quietly.

  
She stilled, grin wilted slightly, and looked directly into his eyes “You heard nothing.”

  
He quirked an eyebrow and she sees Destiny come up next to him behind the couch. “I could’ve sworn,” He trailed off as she shakes her head.

  
“You heard nothing. It was between him and me. You make the same mistakes, I’ll make you the same ultimatum. Until then, you heard nothing.” The two shifters weren’t quite crowding her, but they’re not giving her much space either. “I’ll ask you the same thing as him when the time comes, until then I’m not going to influence you one way or the other.”

  
They studied her for a moment and then look up in the direction of the human’s wing. A very sleepy Prince staggered out from there. “What’s all the noise? It’s way too early for this.”

  
“Drama Queen Kitty.” Gladio called out from the kitchen where he’s helping Ignis.

  
Noct takes one look around to see where everyone was and then there’s just an imprint of blue crystal left where he was a moment ago. He appeared directly over his pet, startling the two others, and lands on top of her. “No, Noct. Get off me you goof.” She was laughing too hard to push him off.

  
“But you’re so warm. You woke me up, you’re now my pillow.” He snuggled up close, latching on like an octopus. Prompto popped up behind Noct and whispers into his ear. Noct immideately wakes up more and the camera comes out. They share pictures and she can see them just enough to know they’re of her.

  
“Noct! Prom! Stop that. Delete those!” She struggles just enough to move them, curbing her strength so they can keep her pinned and the showcase going.

  
Off to the side, the new shifters can’t quite figure out what to make of this scene. Part of them wants to save their Alpha, the other part doesn’t want to interfere with the humans. They keep glancing at each other then back at the pile on the couch. Mara finally joins them in watching the rough housing. “They’re different aren’t they?”

  
“Very. I’m not sure what to think of them.” Destiny was the one to answer him.  She had a small smirk on her face like she can’t quite believe there’s two humans wrestling with a shifter over a camera. “This can’t be real.”

  
“It is and we will leave them be. They’ll keep eachother busy while I finish cooking. Would you like to help? I need some things chopped and grated and the tables set. We brought out a second one for the children to sit at so we adults can eat in peace.” From the way he waved his spatula at the couch pile, it was obvious they were the kids and everyone else were the adults in his statement.

  
Twenty minutes later breakfast was ready and the “adults” didn’t want to wake the cuddle pile that had formed where the wrestling match took place. Lilliana was at the bottom of the pile with her arms wrapped around Noctis and Prompto, who were both on top of her and clinging just as hard to her as she was to them. It was completely innocent and adorable. They all decided to leave the “kids” alone for now and save them a plate for later.

  
Justice went over and crouched down in front of the couch pile. “I don’t get them at all. They’re just kids and human. How can they inspire such loyalty?” He says it quietly, almost to himself.

  
“That’s one of the reasons. They are just kids and they are innocent of societies crimes. If they were like any other human, they would get a cold shoulder and a snarl.” He hadn’t noticed when Lilly had opened her eyes. She was watching him as much as he was watching them.  “You’re not much older than they are babe. Give them time.”

  
“I said I would and I will. I don’t have to help it, though and I certainly don’t understand it.” He gets up and walks out of the room. She watches him and hugs her humans just a tiny bit tighter.

  
A half hour later she’s going just a bit crazy with heatstroke and inactivity “I wouldn’t worry to much about him. You’ve proven yourself more than capable of taking care of your humans. Did you want help getting out from under them?” Mara had wandered over and taken Justice’s place in front of the pile. “We have bacon and sausage over there. It’s been years since I had that. It smells divine. You eat like this every day?”

  
“Only when Ignis is nice enough to make it. You might want to move. I’m gonna dump them.” She warns him and a moment later, she wiggles and positions her arms under both the boys and lifts. The boys are startled awake and dumped onto the ground.

  
The boys splutter and scramble to their knees. Both are asking What happened and what was that for at the same time. She looks down on them and grins “You were heavy.”

  
“We are not! You can lift us with one hand. Don’t tell me you’re not strong enough to not even feel us on top of you.” Noct denies enthusiastically. He’s pouting and she can’t help but stick her tongue out at him in jest.

  
“Lets go get us food then decide what to do today. We can’t go outside, not really, not so soon after yesterday’s fun. How about we go down to the gym and see what they got? Bet you a week of chores Genesis can bench Gladio!”

  
“You’re on.” Noct and Prompto scramble up and race each other into the kitchen.

  
“Here. So you don’t have to fight them.” Mara hands her a plate full of still warm food and a fork. “I’ll go get you a drink. You start eating. I want to see if Genesis can bench Gladio too.” He walks off after the boys.

  
Sausage and bacon and a pancake under it all. Ignis must like her today. _Let’s go see what these guys are made of, after I finish this heaven of cooking._

 


	6. Training is a workout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's see who wins Lilly's bet with Noctis.

There was a small fight before they left the suite, about wearing leashes. She hated it but didn’t fight it because it was faster than doing so and she knew she’d get it taken off while her owner was training each day. The new shifters didn’t fight it for the most part, but Justice balked at the suggestion. She finally had to put her foot down and order him to wear it and follow along. She didn’t enjoy it, but safety first when outsiders were concerned. He didn’t believe the humans when they swore they’d remove it as soon as they could. With each roadblock she wondered just how long he would’ve lasted in her farm or how often she would’ve had to talk to him in solitary before he broke. She never liked solitary.

As soon as the door to the training room shut, the leashes came off. _Man I hate those things_. She stretched and took a few more steps away from the humans than was probably necessary, but the leash just feels wrong. “So what to do first?” She asks the air, looking around.

The training grounds usually had people in them 24/7. Men and women coming in from their shifts, warming up before going out on their rounds. Some just working out frustrations of life or practicing to make their skills better. Lilliana usually didn’t come down here by herself because, as a shifter, she didn’t need to hone her muscles. She just needed to keep moving every once in a while and her natural metabolism did the rest. She did come here daily because she was following her owner and he needed the training. Humans were so weak in general.

The first thing she saw was some friendly guards; Nyx, Crowe, Libertus, and a few others. She smiles and waves over at them to a chorus of “Hey kitten!” One of them asked what she’s doing there and aren’t they the ones that attacked Ignis yesterday?

“Hey guys! Yeah, we got it all figured out yesterday. Hoping to put them through their paces today. Might ask you to help out later if the guys can’t make them move.” She jogged over to the kingsglaive and turned to watch her pack and family behind her. She loved being out and able to run in the training grounds and it always shows with an extra bounce to her step and a bit of extra cheek in her voice.

“They don’t know about the magic of the crownsguard as far as I’m aware, so this should be fun. I didn’t see their reaction to the Prince warping this morning but I’m guessing they’ll startle when they see it again. It was a trip the first time I saw it. How are you guys doing?” She turns her full attention to the glaive and falls into familiar conversation with them.

Gladio shouting at the boys to move faster alerted to her of the fun starting to happen. Their warm up was finished and the shield was putting them through their paces for their self defence forms. “Lilly get over here. You need to work on yours too.” Gladio calls over to her. She rolls her eyes but goes over to them and follows his instructions. At least until he turns his attention to the others. When that happens she jumps up on top of one of the climbing walls to see and hear everything.

He turns to the new shifters, looking them up and down. “Any of you have fighting experience?”

The three older shifters nod their heads. They each had some form of formal training and each said so. Justice shook his head no. Gladio looks him up and down and calls Ignis over. “He looks like he would do well with your quick paced style. Wanna start on forms with him while I check the others?”

“I could see if he has the aptitude for them. Nyx can help me if he is willing.” Ignis calls over to Nyx and they discuss how the best way to go about testing Justice’s reflexes and raw skill with knives.

Gladio confers with the new shifters how much they know and what he plans to test them on. He grabs one of the great swords off the wall with one hand and hefts it over his shoulder. That thing is as long as he is tall and just as wide. It still leaves her in awe that a human can do that and make it look effortless.

“Is that thing heavy? May I try lifting it?” Genesis asks. He sounds innocent enough, but everyone in the room has listened to Nyx too often to not catch the hidden smirk.

Gladio narrows his eyes at the man and holds the blade out with one arm and drops it into Genesis’s waiting palm. The man fumbles with the weapon for one second but only because he wasn’t used to the weapon’s balance. As soon as he got used to it he started swinging it around as if it was a baton, over his head and behind him. It seemed it was more of a javelin than a great sword.

 _Show off_ Lilly thought to herself hiding a grin. _Wonder how far this will go._

“That’s not the way you handle a weapon. Give me that.” Gladio grabs for the weapon and Genesis darts out of his way with a ‘make me’ gesture with his free hand.

Gladio turns at a shout from the side of the room and grabs another great sword flying at him. Destiny had grabbed and thrown it out to the man. She leans against the wall and gave the shield a “Give him hell” shout of encouragement.

Both men get into their own version of a ready stance. Gladio, with his sword resting on his shoulders, hilt up and away and blade tip angled towards his opponent, crouched down slightly and stance steady. Genesis has his down by his hip as if it’s a much smaller sword ready for a hip draw, right leg out, weight mostly on the back leg, right shoulder down.

They both took a moment to size each other up, looking for openings and weaknesses. Genesis slides his stance just a tad bit wider, settling into a more defence position. This was all the opening Gladio needed. He lunged forward straight and true towards the shifter bringing the sword straight down in an arch aiming directly for the head.

She noticed a small flicker of an _oh shit_ moment in Genesis’s eyes and then the man just wasn’t where Gladio was aiming. _Guess he wasn’t ready for how fast that Shield can move when he wants to._ He had stepped to the side and brought his own sword out from his hip to meet the falling sword with his own rising one. There was a mighty crash and a shower of sparks fell where the two swords met.

To Lilly it looked like Gladio had the upper hand but only because his stance and two handed grip was strong and had no give in it. Genesis had been cocky and used only one hand and couldn’t get the leverage needed to throw Gladio’s sword away as the move had intended. He wasn’t giving in either, but only because his raw shifter strength was bleeding through.

The men pushed just enough for them to back away from each other and then lunge back in as if they were using short swords instead of great swords for this fight. Neither would falter and they both covered their fatigue well.

*******

“Lilly. Go stop them.” Her owner called up to her. “It’s been thirty minutes and you know Gladio won’t stop until something goes wrong. Make them stop.”

“Do I have to? The last time I stopped Gladio I had bruises and cuts for a week!”

“You had a light bruise on your hip and a cut on your hand. You were fine within three days. Go. Stop. Them.” His final words booked no argument.

“Yes Sir.” She knew when she could get away with things and when she couldn’t. This was the latter, so she lightly dropped down from the top of the climbing wall and used the momentum to rebound into a dead sprint towards Genesis. He was throwing his sword forward and didn’t notice her until she was under his guard and in his face.

“I’ll take that!” She grinned at him and used her raw strength to pull his sword out of his hands and shoved him back with her foot to his gut. That shove moved him twenty feet back out of everyone’s way. She then turned quickly and saw Gladio couldn’t break his movement even if he had known she would be there. She hunkered down over her left leg, bracing herself, and kicked upwards. The heel of her foot hit the sweet spot of the hilt and the sword flew up and out of Gladio’s hands. With her unoccupied hand she flat palm shoved him backwards, away from the shifter he was sparing.

She caught the flying sword with her right hand and with a fancy baton twirl of her own she settled into a strong stance with the pointy end of the swords aimed each at their original users.

“Ok boys, this was getting a tad ridiculous. You’re size contest can be done without me having to figure out how to get another dead body out of the building.”

“Size competition?” Gladio sputtered “Wait…. What? ‘Another Dead body’? Lilliana?”

She realized she said just a tiny bit to much and pretended it never happened. “Can’t you just do normal things? Like tests of strength, lifting weights, throwing knives at walls, climbing the walls the fastest? Leave the trying to kill each other for later.”

“Lilly, on your 6.” She heard call before a lanky blond grabbed her in a hug from behind “That was so awesome Lilly! You looked like that one guy from the video games, the one with the huge greatswords and he could wield them with one hand too and swing them around like that and not be bothered by anything and…”

“Prompto Breathe! You mean like Cotton Strike, that one delivery boy, right?”

“His name is Cloud Strife, but yes. You looked just like him. It was so cool!”

“I’m glad it looked cool. You going to get off me?” She shrugged her shoulders in emphasis but the monkey of a chocobo refused to let go and even latched on tighter if that was possible.

“I have a superhero for a friend, this is so awesome.”

Resigned to having a new growth for a few minutes at least. She motions to the guys with the swords and trudges off towards the weight room. By the time she hits the door, the chocobo has let go and was walking on his own again. She puts the swords up against the wall in a random weapons stand and goes in. “Ok you two. You want to see who’s stronger? Do it here. Lift weights and do reps until you collapse if you have to, but no hurting yourselves or I’m sicking Ignis on you.”

First up was the bench press. They started with an easy bar of 20 pounds and kept adding on weights until it was almost 400 pounds on each end of the bar. Gladio was straining by then but so was Genesis. Cats were more sprinters than marathon runners so he had used up most his energy during the sword fight and didn’t have much left for lifting. Gladio on the other hand was more a marathon runner and still had most his strength even with all the fight had taken out of him.

“Hey. You think one of them could lift me? On the bar, like in that one video?” Prompto asked Noct.

“They probably could. I know Gladio could do it. It would be awkward with just one person holding onto the bar. Let’s see if he can lift both of us at the same time. You on one end and me on the other.” Noct countered Prom.

Gladio had heard them and was already removing the weights from the bar he had been using. It’s one thing to be able to hold inanimate objects and do reps with it. It’s completely different to have to balance people and do reps at the same time. That would be more of a test of skill than before.

Gladio laid back down on the bench and held the bar steady while the two boys got a good grip on the bar. They were about the same height and weight so they didn’t need to do anything fancy to make the weights even on each side of the bar.

“Ready?” Crowe asked. She had deemed herself the official referee for this contest and was taking it very seriously. No cheating, no interference, no dangerous stunts (at least no Nyx level stunts). At the boys ascent she raised her hand up and slashed it down in a Start motion. The boys lifted their legs up under them and balanced on the bar getting a good grip themselves. Gladio was doing minute adjustments of his own to make sure they wouldn’t fall off or overbalance him. After about 10 seconds they all agreed they were ready and Gladio started moving the bar up and down doing presses. After 50 reps, he called it for a break and needed heavier humans to use. Mara and Libertus were drafted to be barbells for this contest. They took a bit more to get settled but then Gladio started again and did 50 more reps. At that Crowe called it and it was Genesis’s turn.

“Hey Nyx, can you keep them busy for a few minutes? I need to talk to Ignis” Lilly asks. At the man's questioning look she shakes her head, “No, nothing to be worried about.”

She pulls Ignis outside of the room and asks “Can I talk to you? It's about last night after everyone went to bed. I caught Justice on his way to your room to grab the collar control and then leave the city. He didn't get anywhere obviously, but I did make a deal with him I needed to tell you and the others about. I intend to keep my word no matter what.”

Ignis looked alarmed at hearing that someone tried to get into their rooms. “He tried to get the control? Noct's in danger from him?”

“No. I think the kid is just terrified and wants to go home even though his nest was destroyed.” At that she explains the entire encounter to Ignis.

He looks thoughtful at the end. “That explains his watching us so closely. And you intend to keep your end of the bargain. No, I'm not questioning your sincerity. I'm just getting the facts straight here.”

“Yes I will take any of them outside if they still don't believe you all any different from other humans. I think only Justice will actually want to at the end though. Maybe Destiny, though that would kill Prompto if she did.”

Ignis nods in agreement with that statement. “True. Thank you for telling me about this. I don't think we should tell the other for now and see what happens closer to your deadline. If they don't seem to be settling then I will inform the others.”

“That's what I was thinking but since you're the advisor and his owner I wanted you to know at the very least. I don't think any of them are a danger honestly, especially now that you all know their shifted forms. I know everyone will keep an eye out for each other no matter what. Do you want me to ask Nyx and his pack to keep an extra eye out?”

“I think you are right about your assessment of them. No I don’t feel the need for them to know. I might mention something to Gladio but he’s already watching them as closely as they are of us. We should go back before anyone notices us missing.” He motions for her to lead the way back inside the training room.

They make they way back into the room and have to stop dead in their tracks at the sight before them. There’s Genesis on the bench lifting Gladio with Prompto sitting on Gladio’s stomach. The poor shifter looked like he was at the end of his strength but wasn’t giving up impressing the humans.

Prompto on the other hand was barely staying still. He was vibrating with excited energy. “Lilly, Lilly!. Look! He did it! He can bench press Gladio, and me at the same time!”

“I can see that. The poor guy looks about ready to drop you though. Let’s get you two off of him.” She walked over and put her arms under Gladio’s knees and back and lifts them up off of Genesis’s hands. She takes a step back and the shifter sits up.

“Just how strong are you? You’re not even straining!” He observes, shock evident on his tired face.

“Hmm? They aren’t that heavy.” She crouches slightly to let Prompto hop off, then sets Gladio’s feet on the ground letting him stand on his own.

Genesis gets up and stalk around her slowly, looking her up and down. “You’re the smallest of us. Destiny should be stronger than you and she couldn’t lift those two together. Yet you weren’t straining at all. Why?”

“I don’t know how strong I am in comparison. Never had anyone to compare myself to.” She shrugs and grins at him. “Maybe later we can see how strong I am to you four.”

Justice looks just the tiniest bit stricken for a moment. He knows how strong he thinks she is and doesn’t want to be on the receiving end of it again.

Mara smirks, knowing what Justice was thinking about and hides it quickly. It will be fun to see if she could best his strength. As the largest Changed form, he should be the strongest in his human form. He would bet that she could give him a run for his money though.

Lilly stretches her arms high above her head and lets out a sigh of pleasure and contentment as she lets her arms fall. “Time for lunch! Who’s with me?”

There’s a chorus of agreement all around her and idle chatter starts up as they exit the weight room. On the way Ignis’s phone beeps a notification at him and he blanches slightly at the screen. “Noct, no lunch for you. Your father just scheduled a late lunch for you and him.”

“Dad? What for?”

“I’m not sure but we must hurry if you are to get there on time. He also says to bring both of your pets. No mention of human or animal form, so better safe to be human for this. Let’s hurry. We need to find Genesis something to wear and you all need to clean up.”

  
_The King? Great…._  Just what she wanted to deal with after the last few days. And human form as well? She’ll get to see what Genesis knows about semi-formal meals with normies at least. Onto the next adventure for her and her merry band of misfits. Just another day in paradise.


	7. Food for Thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunch with His Majesty is always informative. Especially when the King is a nosy dad.

Lunch with the King, yay. Not completely formal, but not completely casual either. She liked them because the King would sneak treats to her under the table if she was in feline form. On the other hand she hated them because it was a toss up if she had to be human or not. When she had to be human, she had to be quiet and not fidget and only got treats hand fed to her with people watching. This unfortunately was usually a power play used by most of the nobles to prove they’re on top of the food chain and their pets were submissive to them even though they could easily throw the normies through the nearest window and smile while doing so.

When the guards opened the door to the dining room there could be a harsh discussion heard. It wasn’t yelling, but only because the people participating knew that if they yelled, swords and guns would be pointed in their general direction in an instant. King Regis and Shield Clarus were discussing quite emphatically about how the King should not be left alone with unknowns and that there should be more guards in the room. The King won the discussion by telling the Shield to go have a relaxing lunch hour and to not take one step inside this room until that hour is up. King’s orders trump Shield’s worries.

The King’s Shield glared at the shifters as he storms out of the room and the two back up slightly and to the side, bowing submissively to him as he passes, not saying a word.

“Hey dad. Having a fun time talking with Clarus?” her owner called over to the King after the door closed fully.

“He worries more than he needs to, like usual. A good trait in a shield. You can see where Gladio gets it” the King said with a smile. “Come sit. Let’s have lunch. How has your day been so far?”

Her owner took a seat near to his father but with enough room on either side of him for a human sized pillow to be laid down for his pets, but it seems only one had been put down.  _ Looks like they forgot he has two pets now and not just one. _ She zipped off to go grab one for Genesis before anyone else noticed it was missing. Grabbing one from the closet nearby she lay it down for the man before settling onto her own on the other side of her owner’s chair.

Thirty torturous minutes of sitting still and in a formal kneeling post later her Master leans over and whispers to her “You know you can relax. It’s just dad. Not like the council is in here. Unless you’re trying to show off for your new mate.” He poked her in the shoulder, grinning ear to ear at her.

“Mate!?!” She can’t hold back the squeak at that term. “He’s not a mate.” She hisses at him quietly. 

The man in question had a blush starting to bloom on his face that he couldn’t quite control. He refused to make any eye contact with anyone in the room. The King outright laughed at her reaction.  _ The gits. All of them. _

“I take it the new shifters have settled in so far? I know it’s only been a day, but this one seems to be experienced.” The King motioned at Genesis and the man bowed slightly more in silent acknowledgement.

“His name’s Genesis, dad. Yeah it looks that way. I haven’t had a chance to talk to any of them really and get to know their backgrounds. The others are named Destiny, Amaranthine, or Mara since that’s easier, and Justice. They all seem good in their own ways though Justice is having a hard time adjusting it seems. Nothing bad. He’s just a bit more jumpy than the rest of them.”

“I see. Lilly.” She popped up over the edge of the table to meet the King’s eyes. She’s still kneeling, but the King liked when she talks to him directly, not to the floor as she used to. It took a long time to break her of that habit. She still struggles some days if truth be told. “What is your opinion of them? Be honest now.”

She glances at her owner and Genesis. They’re both listening intently even if one of them won’t raise his head to stare directly at her. She considers for a moment then takes a deep breath to answer. “I like most of them. I don’t think any of them a threat after I had a talk with Justice last night. He’s too young to have this done to him but he’s eager to please when in a group so I think after everything calms down, and if the council isn’t as interested in him as they were in me, then he should be fine.”

“Mara seems to be a leader in his own right with a military or martial arts background I’m guessing. He’s very disciplined and has told me directly he has no need or desire to fight his collar. He likes it much better than his last one apparently. Hopefully his cooler head will help with Gladio’s over time.”

“I haven’t gotten much of a read off Destiny yet. She doesn’t seem like the type to go against the grain that much, but I haven’t interacted with her much yet. Same with Genesis. I get a noble vibe from him but not much else. He knows the protocols of the house without us explaining things to him and he know how to address every level of nobility in this building. Even I can’t do that with Ignis’s help. The only thing I really know about any of them is that Genesis here can bench press Gladio and Prompto at the same time, and I’m sure Mr. Leonis has either video or pictures ready for you to look at when you have a spare moment.” She gets a chuckle out of everyone at that. These Citadel folks gossip more than anyone she's ever met.

“I have no idea how each will fit in with their respective owners to be honest. It’s just to new a situation to be able to predict, but I am willing to try. Prompto would be devastated if he couldn’t get along with a chocobo shifter. They’re like cousins from a different family entirely. For being presents from the Empire, I think they chose well with each pairing. We must’ve gotten lucky.”

“I see. That is a very insightful look at them. Thank you. And what about you? Do you feel safe around them?” At her confused look the King clarified, “You are a female in a place with seven men and one lone female. Do you feel safe to be around all of the new people?”

She blinked at him for a moment before his words finally sink in. “Your Majesty. I have four weapons specialists at a minimum ready to maim anything that comes near me in anything other than a friendly disposition. Not to mention that I can easily dismember any offending appendage that gets near me. I feel confident enough in my assessment of them that I won’t have to worry about any of them pulling something stupid in the first place. If I'm wrong they'll be the ones who are sorry.”

“I understand. Thank you Lilly. I want to make sure everyone in the Citadel is safe. Not just the humans. If there’s ever any hint of anyone not feeling safe here, please tell me immediately.” The King nods to her slightly with a smile. She gives a bright smile back and ducks back down to lounge next to her owner’s chair.

“Dad. You did this with Lilly too, Can’t you let me have twenty four hours without you being nosy? No we haven’t abused them and have no plans to,  _ Ever _ , yes we are trying to stuff them full of food, yes they’re still freaking out about us not being normal owners. Can we go now?”

The King chuckles at his son’s exasperation. “Fine, fine. I have one question for Genesis before you go.”

Lilly looks around her owner’s chair at the other shifter. The man looked just the tiniest bit paler than when he started the day and was looking over at her worriedly. She lets him have a reassuring smile and motions for him to go on and talk to the King.

The shifter slowly raises up on his knees to see over the table. He can’t get himself to make eye contact, but his voice is clear when he addresses the King. “Yes, Your Majesty. How may I be of assistance?”

“Genesis. I need you to answer honestly and completely. Do not be afraid of any reparations for you answers. My son will not do anything or be angry for them, you have my word on that. Do you understand?"

“Yes Your Majesty.” The shifter nods and glances up at the King briefly.

“Honestly. How is being with Noctis? ( _ DAD!) _ I mean living with him.” He gives his son a pointed look. “It’s been about twenty four hours, but that is enough time to get a measure of a man and who he lives with.”

The shifter takes a steading breath and answers, “He is unusual to me, an unknown. So far I have seen only good but I do not know if that will change. From the way Lilliana acts, it will not, but I can not be sure. He and the other humans are very much different than every experience I have had with Masters of any gender and status. As of this moment it is a much liked change and I am willing to see where it goes in the future.”

After waiting a moment to see if anything else comes from the man, the King says “Thank you for your honesty Genesis. I know this is contrary to everything you’ve been taught in the farms. As I said with Lilliana, if at any time you feel unsafe, let me or the guard know. You will have a sympathetic ear in the citadel.”

Genesis bows as much as he is able and sits back down below the table edge. He looks over in Lilly’s direction and glances up at their owner and back at her. She smiles at him and sees him relax a hair.

The two humans had gone back to idle chatter while finishing their lunch. She’s barely paying attention when a vegetable comes out of nowhere in front of her nose. She bites on the green thing without thought, nipping the fingers holding it in accident. She received a tweak on the nose for her trouble and she nuzzles the hand in apology.

“Alright time to get back to work,” the King says while pushing his chair back from the table. “Time you get some lunch for those two as well. They’re probably hungry. If I had known you were down in the training room I would have left you alone for the day. (No you wouldn’t have) Ok at least let you alone for an hour to get some food in them. Your vegetables don’t count”  _ Aww he remembers we burn through calories like crazy. _

“Alright, yeah they’re probably starving. Come on guys. Let’s get out of here and find you something.” The prince gets up and stretches.

As the three of them are moving to the door to leave, a noise makes them turn back to the King. “Ah I almost forgot. Genesis. Would you be willing to show me your Changed form? I’ve never been near to an Elder Coeurl before but have always wanted to be. And if Lilly is willing as well, may I see both of you side by side for comparison?”

Lilly smiles and says of course she will. Genesis looks to his Master for permission and doesn’t get the answer he expected at all. “Do you want to? You can say no if you wish. I’m not going to force you to Change.”

Genesis looks over to lilly who has already started change her skin color. “You can say yes or no to them. They won’t be mad either way. If it’s to much physically or mentally at this time then tell them so. There will always be other opportunities to show off around here. I will vouch that the King has been looking forward to seeing all of you in your Changed forms.”

He takes one last look at everyone in the room and then moves back ten paces and sits down. His Change starts slowly with his eyes turning gold and his skin losing its color to become almost pure white. Fur sprouts all over his face, arms, and legs. Whiskers explode out of his face growing at a rapid pace. By this time his size starts changing and he grows to the full 20 foot long cat he is. He’s too white to be an Elder Coeurl though, something was missing. Someone was about to mention it when small spots started to appear and grow to random sizes and placements. He’s gorgeous and dangerous all at the same time. He knows this so he lays down and puts his whiskers on the floor, making him look as docile as possible.

Lilly stretches as only a cat can and then full body rubs up against the larger feline. She’s tiny in comparison to him at only 12 feet long. If it wasn’t for the difference in fur patterns, she’d look like his cub.

The King looked delighted and walked up to genesis’s head. “May I touch you?” At the cat’s nod the King starts to pet Genesis’s head. “He’s so soft. How can you stand to not touch him all the time?” He looked over at his son while asking.

“Lots of practice with Lilly. She’s the softer of the two, but not by much.”

At that statement Lilly just had to rub up against the King’s side in emphasis that she’s the softest. Since she’s so much bigger than he is, he’s pushed off balance onto Genesis’s neck a little bit. One hand on both shifters gives him the best idea of who’s softest. Laughing the King states “I can see what you mean. Thank you, you two. I appreciate you allowing me to do this.”

The King is just regaining his balance when the doors open and an angry Shield stomps into the room. “What is the meaning of this? Your Majesty. Get away from that animal. It might attack you.” He stomps closer drawing his sword out of the royal aminger and brandishing it at the cats.

Lilly can’t help but roll her eyes at him  _ Seriously? Like I’d let the King or Master get hurt. Time to get you laughing Clarus. _ Her plan is simple and works nine times out of ten on the man. She slinks over to him and headbutts him looking as innocent as a giant cat can. When he doesn’t smile she rubs fully against him, pushing him around lightly with her weight. She’s getting a snort from him but not enough for her liking so she brings out the big guns. She flops over onto her back on top of his foot, begging for belly rubs. She gets a giant sigh for her troubles, puts his sword away, and he starts petting her belly. “You are such a pain, Lilliana. I’m supposed to be protecting His Majesty, not giving you belly rubs.” She rumble purrs at that but doesn’t move at all.

“Come on Clarus. I know Gladio has talked to you about how soft Genesis is. Come over and feel.” The King says from where he’s scratching behind Genesis’s ears.

Lilly looks over as the shield gets closer to the other cat and she can see he’s getting more and more agitated and scared.  _ Probably enough for one day. Let’s see if I can defuse this. _ She gets up and nudges Clarus out of the way to sit directly in front of the other cat. He lifts his head slightly at her and a whisker comes up slowly to brush down her face and side. She head nudges him and then out of nowhere puts a paw on his nose, pushing it like it’s a button. She puts her paw back down on the floor and waits. She gets a completely confused look for her effort, which is mildly pleasing to her, but not what she was after. She beeps his nose again with her paw. At least she’s keeping his attention now and he’s not worried about the humans.

The third time she beeps his nose he seems to realize that she wants him to do something so he stands up. The fourth time he turns on the electricity in his whiskers. They crackle with a blue spark of magic electricity. He waves them slowly but not threateningly, or at least as much as one can with two live wires of electricity attached to a giant cat. At the fifth time she beeps his nose he shuts off the electricity. The sixth time he sits back down on the floor just looking at her. The final time she does she leaves her paw on his nose and Changes back to human form. He blinks at her for a moment then Changes back as well.

The humans had all gathered off to the side while they were doing this strange ritual and were talking among themselves.”She used to do this with me” Noctis was stating. “She would beep my nose with her paw to make me stop whatever emotion was threatening to overwhelm me. She would distract me from any anxiety or negative emotions and turn them positive somehow. It was grounding in a way. I’m guessing she noticed he was getting to the end of his rope there and wanted to calm him down. She’s good at it. Works for everyone she’s done it to.”

“I think that’s enough for today don’t you think Genesis? Time to go head back and eat and relax. No more Nobles if possible would be best I think.” Lilly turned to the three humans in the room and bows to them. “Master we should return. Ignis will be worried and you know how he is when he gets anxious. It was a pleasure to see you today Your Majesty. Sir Clarus, a delight as always.” With that everyone bids each other goodbye and scattered through their respective doors and out to their next meetings. Noctis, Lilliana, and Genesis walked through one of the doors and the Prince led the way back to the suite.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Noct meandered off to do his own thing while the two shifters settle into the kitchen. Ignis had prepared lunch for them specifically and had it waiting on the table. She has to maneuver Genesis into one of the chairs and not the floor, but she did it.

Genesis just looked at the food for a minute before slowly following Lilly’s lead and eating off the plate. A pause in between bites lead him to ask “Is he always like that? The King I mean.”

She swallows her bite and looks over at the man. “Yeah. He’s been concerned for everyone’s comfort and safety as long as I’ve known him. I hadn’t even been in this place twelve hours before he made sure I felt safe around Noct and the guys. It’s sort of refreshing to be honest.”

“But, he’s the King. Why would he care at all?” The man is genuinely confused.

“He feels that we are as human as the rest of them, we just have a different place in it than the non-shifters. His family has their own quirks with the crystal and all. He tries his best for us and he does a ton more than it seems. He’s been making it better for shifters all around as fast as he can without causing a riot. Have you been to any of the farms in or around Insomnia?”

“No. I was never in a local farm. He is actually trying to help? How?”

“He gives incentives for the farms to treat their ‘inventory’ better, tax cuts and the like. Regular inspections of the places and fines if they aren’t up to standards. I also hear he has to retrain his secretaries often because the paperwork for deregulations gets lost regularly, but you didn’t hear it from me.” She hears a lot roaming around the halls as a feline, and maybe she’s eaten one or two of the pages on purpose, but that’s just hearsay.

The man made a thoughtful sound and goes back to slowly eating. It’s been forever since he used a fork and knife so it’s slow going trying to remember how. She stayed at his eating pace, making sure he keeps eating and doesn’t bolt to a perceived safer location. Returning to human habits is never an easy thing. The humans thankfully stayed out of the kitchen area, leaving them alone and doing their own things.

When their plates were cleaned and put away Lilly stretched as large as she could as a human with a huge yawn. “Time for a nap! Wanna join me?” She looked over at the other shifter giving him a smile. “A long day requires a long nap.”

“We can? Do we have to go check in with the Master and get his permission first?”

“Nah. Knowing him. He’s probably taking his own in his room with Sunshine. You can choose human or cat. There’s room all over the place. I don’t know if you’ll fit on my perches as a cat though. You’re just a  _ tiny _ bit bigger than me.” She holds up her hand, fingers about an inch apart.

He chuckled at her. “I can’t help it if you’re a tiny kitten. Sure I’ll join you. It has been a very long day so far.”

She mock glared at him and gives him a light punch in the shoulder. She Changed quickly into her feline form and jumps up onto one of the lower perches in the living room. She settles down on her side and waits for him to join her. He pulls himself up onto the perch as a human and settles next to her, laying in to her stomach and side. After a few small adjustments, she’s curled around him protectively and rumbling slightly in a purr. It takes a bit, but he falls asleep while idly running his hands through her fur on her legs. She nuzzles him once and settles completely for her own nap.

Mara checked in on them once while they were settling and once after they had fallen asleep. The man smiles at them enjoying the fact that their Alpha is as protective of the shifters as she is of her humans. They might just find their place in this strange land eventually. Their Alpha will take care of them in the end.


	8. Hospital visits aren't always a bad thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you go to the hospital to heal others, not to get healed yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This happens on day 4 after the gifting.
> 
> They had a lazy day 3 with absolutely nothing happening, which is a good thing.

“Hey Ignis” Her owner called from across the room. “What day is it?”

“It’s Saturday. You have your phone in your hand, Highness. You could look it up yourself you know.” The adviser called back to him.

“Don’t we visit the hospital today?”

“I cancelled it on account of the acclimation week.”

“What? We can’t cancel that. They’re counting on us to be there. Lilly. You ready to go?”

Lilly had been reading in her favorite corner since she had woken up. She didn’t really want to move, but she wasn’t going to miss a hospital visit. “Ready when you are, Sir.” She gets up and stretches tall. “Gonna bring Genesis? Or is it just us today?”

“Bring me along for what?” The aforementioned shifter asked while walking into the room. He wasn’t afraid to ask questions and had gotten used speaking up when mentioned over the four days since his ‘gifting’. He wouldn’t give any of his own opinions as of yet, but he was sure that he wouldn’t be corrected for asking questions behind the suite’s door.

“Would you like to come with us today? We volunteer at the children’s hospital every other week if we can make it and a minimum of once a month. Lilly is their furry jungle gym when we do go. It really cheers them up. You can stay here if you like. I won’t force you to go. I do know a few of the kids would love to see a coeurl up close, though, if you do want to.”

“You volunteer at a children’s hospital? If it will cheer them up, then yes I’ll go.”

“Speaking of. Hey Mara?” The Prince called over. “Would you be willing to come with us? There’s one boy in particular that has always wanted to see a behemoth up close and I’d love to surprise him. He’s one of their long term residents so he can’t leave to go see things like a normal child.”

“If my Master is ok with it I’d love to go make his day.” Mara nodded from his sitting position against the wall near Lilly

“Why don’t we all tag along? I haven’t been there in a while and those kids always like shoulder rides from me.”  Gladio chimed in from the couch.

“Sounds like a plan. Let’s go borrow one of the vans. We aren’t going to fit into a normal sized car if there’s nine of us. Specks you’re coming too.” 

Lilly heard a sigh come from the kitchen and knows Noctis has won this round of scheduling conflicts. The adviser doesn’t really get along with all the kids but he can usually find some to read to or he plays chess with the older ones. Now the question was if Destiny and Justice want to tag along as well.

“Sure.” come an answer from near Lilly. She hadn’t heard the chocobo shifter come into the room. “If it’s for kids, yeah I’ll tag along.”   


“Is it an order, Alpha?” a sullen voice asked from behind Destiny. The last shifter in the group peered around Destiny to look at Lilly.

“Of course not, but you want that  _ Why _ answered right? Good chance to see it. And don’t call me Alpha. I’m not one” She could practically feel the eye rolls all around her from the various shifters. “I’m not!” she protested to deaf ears.

“I think you’re going to lose this battle, Lilliana, better to retreat to fight another day when you have the high ground.” Mara whispers conspiratorially at her, while trying to hide a smile of his own.

“You’re all gits” she mumbles under the breath.

****

“Your Highness! We thought you weren’t coming today.”

“I didn’t want to disappoint the kids. I didn’t realize someone had changed my schedule until this morning.”

Some happy screams could be heard down the hall. Cries of “Prince Noctis is here” and “Lilly” came from children of all ages.

Two children came running down the hall and latched onto Lilliana right away. “Hey guys! Let me Change at least before you start climbing on me.” A chorus of no’s answered her and they held on tighter.

“Alright alright! Let’s go make trouble” She laughed and started Changing while walking past the nurse’s station. The kids didn’t even let go when her legs got thicker and shortened. She fell forward onto all fours and the kids still refused to let go, trying to climb on her back. A third child came out of one of the rooms in a wheelchair, their face lighting up when he saw the big cat coming his way. Lilly gave the boy the gentlest of full body rubs  _ Hi, sweety _ and rumble purrs at the pets she received in return.

The other shifters don’t know what to make of this. Their Alpha is a giant kitten around all these children and the children love her in return. They weren’t expecting her to be this well received from anyone. The doctors let her go near the kids without complaint and the parents that were there didn’t say anything as well. They kept giving each other looks of confusion but none of them had any answers.

One of the nurses came out from behind their station holding what looked like a horse saddle and called over to Lilly.  _ Yay. Playtime.  _ The cat went over, gently shaking off her growths, and the nurse helped her don the saddle. They both went over to one of the kids in the wheelchairs that had slowly come out of the rooms and helped strap one onto the apparatus. Lilly stood up and gently shook, making sure both the saddle and the child were strapped in tight. She then growled and roared at the other children and started slowly chasing the walking ones while following the directions of the one riding her.

While everyone was busy watching Lilliana run around with the children, one little girl came up to Noctis and tugged on his shirt to get his attention. “We heard you got another pet. What is it? A dog, a cat?” 

Noctis knelt down to speak to the girl on her level. “He is another shifter and his name is Genesis. If you want to know what he is, you’ll have to ask him politely.” He points out the shifter in question and Genesis gives her a bow.

The little girl goes up to Genesis “Hello. My name is Jenny, What’s your name?” 

“Hello Jenny. My name is Genesis.”

“Are you a shifter?”

“Yes I am, my lady. I am a coeurl shifter. Would you like to see?” 

“Yes Please! I love cats, the bigger the better!” The girl gives him a huge smile and claps her hands in excitement.

“Let’s go outside so I can Change. I don’t have that much room in here.” He looked over at the nurses and they motion for everyone to follow them out into a large garden area. Many nurses, doctors, and patients stream outside. It’s always a big event when Lilliana and Noctis come visit. All the children that aren’t actively having treatment come out to see them. They’ll go in and see the ones who can’t leave their rooms before they leave for the day. They don’t like to leave anyone out.

Outside, Genesis smiles and moves back a few feet. “Stay there so you don’t get stepped on my lady.” He slowly Changes into cat form making sure that no one is under foot accidentally. He lays down immediately and keeps his whiskers under his body so no one thinks that he will hurt anyone. The girl squeals in delight and rushes over to pet the huge kitty. 

Prompto kneels next to a little girl he recognizes asks if she wants to see Destiny do a magic trick. The little girl lights up and looks over at Destiny who is looking at the two of them very confused. She doesn’t know any magic tricks. Prompto makes a motion like putting fingers through long hair but still gets a confused look back. “Why don’t you tell Destiny what your favorite animal is first.”

“My favorite animal is a chocobo” 

A look of realization passes over the shifter’s face and she theatrically runs her fingers through her hair and pulls out a few large gold chocobo feathers. Everyone’s eyes widen comically, except the gunner’s. He knew she could do partial changes from the first day they had talked. Destiny hands the feathers to the little girl who had started jumping up and down in happiness. 

The child surprises everyone as well by asking if Destiny was a chocobo shifter. “You’re quick aren’t you? Yes I’m a chocobo shifter. A big gold one. I can show you if you’d like?” The girl nods her head enthusiastically and Destiny Changes. Right away she gets swarmed by more children who want to ride the giant bird but they barely reach up to her knees. She’s very careful when she moves her feet. She doesn’t want her spurs to cut anyone so she shuffles more than anything. Sitting down slowly, the children start climbing on top of her pulling feather accidentally. She doesn't mind though. They’re cute in a way and she always likes the attention.

One boy that had been wheeled outside was not enjoying himself or interacting with anyone. He was glaring hard at everyone and especially the kids who were walking and running. Noctis meandered over to him and asked if the boy wanted to go closer and see the shifters.

“No. Why would I want to be near any pets? They are just animals. Nothing special.”

“Well that’s rude. They’re just as human as we are. They just have a little more magic in their veins.” He motions for Mara to come closer. “I guess you wouldn’t want to see Mara’s Changed form then. Seeing as he’s the one creature you wanted to see more than anything when we last talked.”

“What?” The boy glanced over at the large shifter. “He’s not. You’re lying.”

“I have never lied to you. If you ask nicely he might just show you and you can touch his tail like you wanted to. He might even let you touch his horns.” The boy looked like he might argue about asking nicely but Noctis cuts off that line of thought before it could come out. “We’ve been over this before. You have to ask pets if they are willing to do things for you. Ours will not do anything demanded of them or asked impolitely. They have feelings just like you do and you don’t like to be ordered around now do you?”

The boy scowled but looks up at Mara and sullenly asks “May I see your animal form, please?”

“Of course you may, young Sir. Let me get somewhere more open so I can’t hurt anyone or destroy the plants. I’m not exactly small. May I push you under one of those trees over there? It looks like there’s a more open spot beyond them.”

At the boys nod, Mara pushes the wheelchair under one of the mentioned trees and then walks out into the garden clearing. He makes sure no one is near him or within the minimum distance his length will take up and he Changes quickly. He sprouts from a normal human male size to over seventy feet tall behemoth. He can’t shift as slowly or as smoothly as the others can, but it gets the job done very quickly. The nurses and doctors who didn’t hear their conversation scream in surprise but with the Prince and his retainers not looking worried, nor their guard, they calm down relatively quickly. It helps that Mara hasn’t moved a centimeter since he Changed.

The boy’s jaw dropped open in surprise. Sure the Prince had never lied to him before, but he didn’t actually expect to ever see a behemoth up close like this. The Prince stood beside the boy and asked if he wanted to get up close to the shifter. He just got a stunned look back at him. The Prince laughed and started pushing the boy slowly towards Mara’s legs. The one paw was bigger than the boy’s entire body, wheelchair and all. He started rapid firing questions at Noctis who was glad to answer each one of them.

Lilliana had finally made her way outside with her mini army of children and they all rushed off to the various shifters they wanted to see closer. She slunk behind the tree Justice was leaning on and Changed back into her human form. “Man they take so much out of me. Love them to death, but they have so much energy when we’re around. You’d never know they were sick until they were super tired. Had a few fall asleep on my back a few times. Scared the nurses half to death every time. You doing alright?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Can’t believe they accept things so easily.” Justice motions towards Mara and the other shifters in the clearing. Mara had lain down and now had children climbing all over his paws, supervised of course by the Prince and nurses.

“Oh it wasn’t easy. You should’ve seen them in the beginning. Freaked them all out when I Changed the first time. They’ve had almost five years to get to know me and trust that I won’t hurt the kids. If you look behind us, they’re watching very closely to make sure the we don’t make any threatening moves.” She leans against the tree with Justice. She doesn’t look back at the doctors, but she knows without looking that at least one of them has a control out, just in case. They trust her somewhat, they probably don’t trust the new shifters as far as they can throw them. Which in Mara’s case, is not at all. They trust the Prince though, and if he’s not worried, they’re just slightly less worried.

Justice takes a look around the tree to verify what she’s said and growls softly at the sight of at least three controls out in various adult’s hands. “They don’t seem too sure of us at all do they.”

“Nah, and I don’t blame them. I’d be scared too if an unknown shifter came near my kid without warning. They’re at least trying though. Half the nobles I know would press the button first and ask questions later. I prefer this.”

“So this is a regular thing for you? Being a spiracorn?”

“Yeah. They love that I’ll let them play on me. They don’t get out much as you can probably guess. Noct comes here a lot in his free time. He was helped here when he was a kid. Not a long term resident like these kids, but he was here for a while. He gets them more than the adults.”

“I see.” Justice quiets and just watches everyone for a while. He doesn’t see anything that would suggest that his humans are bad people. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Every human he’s now staying with are surrounded by children, showing them the shifters, reading to them, giving them rides, or helping them in some way. People wouldn’t put up with this level of noise and commotion if they weren’t genuinely good as far as he was aware. He still doesn’t trust them, but they aren’t on the level of his hunters anymore.

An older teenager comes up to the two of them slowly. “Hey Lilly. Who’s your friend?”

“Hey Angel. This is Justice. Justice, this is Angel, one of the longest residents here. You’re about to get your freedom though if I remember right. Test’s coming back good?”

“Should be out next month if they continue to improve. Hi. I’m Angel. If you know Lilly and have a collar too, you must be a shifter? Sorry I don’t recognize many things. I’ve been here most my life and don’t get out much.”

Justice looks quickly at Lilly and then back at the new girl, Angel. “Yeah I’m a shifter.”

“Cool. You’re lucky. I wish I could change into something other than this weak form. I’d love to run. Oh but the roundups, shoot. Sorry if I brought up bad memories. I didn’t mean to. I just wish I was healthy enough to go out like you can.”

“You’re jealous of us? You’re human though. You have all the freedoms.” He looks incredulously at the human.

“Not when you’re as sick as I was. Yeah I’m on the mend, but I will never be able to explore the city or go to school or anything like you can with the Prince and his people.” At his look she chuckles. “I watch the news. Lilly here goes everywhere with him. She’s always getting away from him. The tabloids love following her almost as much as they do him. She has so much more fun that she probably should even by human standards.” Lilly suddenly finds her nails super interesting and refuses to make eye contact with either of them.

Angel pokes Lilly in the shoulder. “You can act as innocent as you like, but there is picture evidence of that takoyaki stand incident.”

Lilly snorts laughing. “I’ll never admit to anything.”

“Takoyaki stand incident?” Justice looks bemusedly at the other shifter.

“Not one word, you.” Lilly points a finger at the girl in a mock threatening manner. “Not one word.”

Angel puts her hands up in a surrender motion. “I know who will chew holes in all my socks if I say anything so you’ll have to ask her about it. Anyway. I’m very glad to meet you Justice. I’m getting a bit tired so I’m going to go make my way back to my room. Have a good day.” The girl starts making her way back inside slowly.

“This is such a strange city. Humans that want to be shifters. Humans that treat shifters like they’re human themselves. A King that is actually trying to help shifters”  _ You heard that hmm _ . “I just can’t figure this place out.” He shakes his head as if to clear it.

“They’re a strange bunch. You’ll find your typical normies who hate shifters, but you’ll also find normies like Noct and the King who want to make it better for us. It’s a slow process and I’m not sure it will happen in our lifetime, but they’re trying and that’s what’s important right?”

“Yeah. I guess.” He falls silent again.

“Hey Lilly! Time to go!” Her owner calls from across the field. It looks like most of the children had fallen asleep from all the excitement and the nurses were gathering them up to take them back to their beds.

She pushes off from the tree and smiles back at Justice. “Time to go. Let’s go home.” They both make their way over to the Masters. All the shifters re-took their human forms at some point and were waiting with the humans as well.

Making the days of children was fun, but nothing beats going home and resting after a full day of excitement. The others would probably agree with her eventually but she’s in no rush. She’s not going anywhere.


	9. Some enemies are well deserved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilliana volunteers to run an errand for Ignis and some mysteries of the others are revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I'm horrible at timelines <.< >.>
> 
> Day 5 after the gifting

“I’ll get it for you” She called across the room to the frazzled advisor. “It’s on your desk  in your office right?”

The advisor was trying to prepare for a meeting that would happen the next day and was going through all the papers on the kitchen table. More room to spread out she supposed. The food he was stress cooking behind him had absolutely _no_ bearing on where he was located, she was sure. You never went near the kitchen when he was stress baking. Not if you wanted to keep all your digits intact.

She walked towards the main door and started to put her shoes on. She wouldn’t put on a leash, to walk herself would look a bit stupid and anyone who saw her wouldn’t think twice of her without one to be honest. Justice had slunk behind her quietly and startled her. “May I come with you? I’d like to see this place more.”

She looked up and back at him. “Ok with me. Ask your owner if it’s alright?”

He shook his head and glanced over at the human in question. “I forgot. I’m still not used to this.”

“It’s alright. I understand. Hey Ignis. Is it alright if Justice comes with me? I’ll show him around and bring him back.” At the advisor’s distracted consent she nudged a pair of shoes towards the man. “Let’s go. Remind me to tell Ignis he needs to get you shoes and clothes that actually fit. He’s been so frazzled I’m not surprised he’s forgotten.”

The two of them walked down halls and through doorways. Justice got so lost right away and Lilly only knew where she was going because of how long she’d lived there. She rarely took the paths alone mainly because of the council idiots always complaining. She loved being a thorn in their sides but only up to a point. Her owner getting in trouble because of her not being near him was more than it was worth in her opinion. They took the back routes that the servants usually took. She didn’t want to chance meeting someone who would actually protest them being unleashed.

“Hey. I know you have questions. Ask them. I won’t judge any of them no matter if you think them trivial or not. You can’t give me an informed decision if you don’t know anything. I’ll do my best to answer it all completely and honestly.” She looked over at him while walking.

“I do have a few questions, but I don’t know where to start.”

“How about me? Or Ignis? Pick a person and just ask questions about them. It may lead to other questions you hadn’t thought of before.”

His questions started out hesitant and guarded. She answered every one of them without hesitation though, no matter how small the question. As she answered, he asked more and they had a steady back and forth going by the time they got to the final doorway they needed to go through. She learned a lot about him with her questions. He had several siblings, and he was the youngest of them all. All but one had been away from his nest before the attack so maybe they're still around. (She made a mental note to ask Ignis to look into finding them at some point if he could.) He was the tallest as a human in his nest but smallest in shifted form. Most of his nest had four arms minimum but there was one elder who had eight. That boggled her mind and she kept asking about the logistics of moving eight arms and a tail at the same time. He had a further human education than she did and had close to what was a full college degree in business. She was just slightly jealous of that seeing as hers amounted to the end of a formal high school one (Ignis helped her a lot with furthering it but it wasn't the same as actually getting a formal degree)

She stopped before opening the final door, glaring at it. _Please don't let him be there. I really don't want to deal with him._ Justice gave her a questioning look and she shook her head when she noticed. “Just really don't want to deal with the person in the office across from this door. He's a mean piece of work and not my favorite person. He's also a councilman so if he is there we have to at least pretend to be submissive to him.”

She opened the door slowly and quietly looking around the door. _Drat, he's in there._ She motioned for the other shifter to follow her out and they were almost all the way past the human's door when she heard an attention getting cough from inside the room.

She winced, stopped, and stood up straight turning to face Councilman Ashford. She took a small step in front of Justice, trying to shield him from view. Not possible with him being a foot and a half taller than her, but she tried her best. The other shifter did hunch down to make himself smaller. He was surprisingly good at hiding his presence even in plain sight she’d noticed.

The human stomped out of his office towards the two shifters, stopping just outside of his doorway. “What are you two animals doing out of your cages? Where is your Master? You’re off your leashes too!” _Does he really want me to answer that?_ She stayed silent as the man ranted and raved at them about how bad their training was, how soft their Masters were, etc.

She wasn’t really paying attention, just watching the floor, until one phrase caught her attention. “That brat should’ve stayed in Tenebrae. His father with him. They are utter failures to contain the beasts in this city.”

“I’m sorry. What was that, Sir?” It was like a switch was flipped. Her gaze snapped up meeting the human’s directly. Her posture straightened, shoulders back, chin up. “What did you say about my Master?”

“How dare you speak in my presence, you filthy animal. That boy needs to discipline you.” The man reached back into a pocket of his.

Her voice was quiet and crystal clear. A distinct growl could be heard coming from her. “I wouldn’t if I were you. You seem to forget that I have the ear of both the Prince and the King and what you were saying could be considered treason if I took it that way. I am also the only shifter in this place that isn’t afraid of the control.” She took a menacing step forward forcing him back a step. “You don’t scare me, human. You don’t threaten my Master or his family in my presence ever again or you’ll regret it. You understand me?”

“Are you threatening me?” The man couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing or hearing from a pet shifter.

“No. I am giving you a promise. And no one will ever believe you if you try to tell anyone.” She gives him an evil smirk. “There’s no other humans around to witness this. Only shifters. And who would believe a powerful human councilman being threatened by a tiny female shifter” To emphasize her point she looks as innocent and scared as possible for a moment. “Don’t threaten my humans and I won’t have to retaliate. Do we have an understanding?” Her tone booked no argument.

He narrowed his gaze at her and instead of answering, he turned around and slammed the door to his office shut in her face.

She snorted at the gesture and turned to continue to Ignis’s office. A noise behind her made her shift her glare to the other shifter. He flinched back in reflex to her sharp angry gaze. She closes her eyes and shakes her head trying to soften her gaze. “Sorry.” When she opened them again, they’re closer to normal.

He shook off the glare straightening up to almost his full height.“You just threatened a normie. A powerful one. Why? What could come of it?”

“He threatened mine. I don’t let people threaten mine. I don’t care what station they’re in. I don’t rebel against the Prince and the King because they’ve earned my loyalty and respect, not because one of them owns my collar.” She started walking down the hall again.”Yeah I probably could’ve just told Master what happened and then let him deal with it, but I’m not one to sit around when I can do something to prevent other issues. Council meetings will be interesting, but he will remember my words.”

She waved at the few humans they were finally starting to pass in the other offices. She got a bunch of waves back and a few “Hey”s from them. Finally she stopped at a single plain looking door and punched in the door code to get inside. “Welcome to Ignis’s office. The place of unreal organization and land of the dust free. Don’t touch anything unless you want to clean for a week.” She said the last with a smirk and opened the door.

The place was immaculate. Everything was color coded and labeled within an inch of its life. She heard the gasp of awe come from behind her, _Warned ya._ She grabbed the one folder that was on the center of the desk and waved it at Justice. “Got it. Ready to go?”

“How is this place real?” The man was looking at everything, touching nothing.

“His little world of order. You need information? He’s got it somewhere in here. He’s super organized and everything must be in its place. I don’t touch anything of his unless I have to usually.” She leaned in conspiratorially. “You should see his computer. It’s even more detailed than here.” She giggled at his disbelief, pushing the man out the door gently.

As soon as they hit the back corridors again he started asking questions without prompting. Eagerly asking different things about every person they’re living with. She happily answered everything and in no time they’re back at the door to the suite.

She keyed in the code to the door and opened it with a call “Got it Ignis.” They toed off their shoes and padded into the kitchen. She handed off the folder to the advisor and took a glance at the work still littering the counters and table. “You’ve expanded. Need me to get you anything else?”

Ignis sighed and rubbed his eyes behind his glasses. “More Ebony would be wonderful. I’ve run out in here.”

“Sure. Let me.” She’s cut off by a tentative voice behind her.

“Can. Can I get it for you?” Justice had spoken up and asked for the first time since he arrived.

Lilly smiled encouragingly and backed away to let the two talk. “Yes. You can. You know where the study is? There’s a fridge under the second desk.” The voices faded as she got further away from them and she flopped down into her nest in the far corner. Her book was right where she last saw it so she settled down to read some more.

Later that day, Noct was on the couch going over some of notes that she and Justice retrieved for the next morning’s council meeting when she noticed Genesis looking over their owner’s shoulder, reading.

Genesis was an enigma to her. He seemed like a total flirt but he has a sharp head on his shoulders and she can’t quite figure him out. He shows flashies of who he once was at times and those confuse her even more.

“Whatcha looking at?” She asked him curiously from her reading corner.

“Hmm?” Genesis blinked and looked up and over at her as if he didn’t remember she was in the room as well. “Oh nothing.” He looked away and went back to perusing the shelves like he was doing earlier.

Noct looked back noticing Genesis as he was moving away. “You interested in politics? I was just getting ready for the council meeting tomorrow morning. You’ll be there as well, so it’s no secret.” He held up one sheet of notes for Genesis to get a better look at if he wanted.

“A passing interest, yes. What caught my eye was this part here.” He pointed at a particular part and went in to so much much technical detail of how the statement was wrong and what it should be, that she was lost five words in.

Even their owner looked a tad dazed by the end of Genesis’s talk. He patted the spot next to him and asks for the cat to join him. They go over each part, going back and forth in more detail that she ever wanted to know about forestry and land zoning.

“How do you know all this?” Noct finally asked.

“I just have a passing interest.” He hid it well, but she could tell he’s nervous about answering. Noct caught onto that as well and didn’t push.

He does go over everything with Ignis later that night just to make sure everything is correct.

“And you say Genesis knew all this? Curious. I haven’t had much luck in looking into his background. His and Destiny’s histories seem to only start when the Empire got ahold of them.” Ignis said later after everyone but he, Noct, and Lilly has turned in for the night. The normies were on the couch, Lilly at Noct’s feet resting against him.

“That doesn’t seem right. Should we just ask them outright?” Noct looked down at where he’s carding his fingers through his pet’s hair.

“No. It’s rude and mean to ask about life from before. He probably won’t say anything unless ordered to.” Lilly is adamant about that much at least.

“You didn’t mind me asking when I first got you.” Noct said curiously.

“I actually did, but it was far enough in the past that it didn’t bother me as much. Your dad also had all my papers, so no one needed to ask many questions.” _Not that there was much in them._ She had seen just how little information anyone had on her. Surprising considering how long she was in the farm.

  
“Why is it such a bad thing to ask?”

“Would you like to be asked about a happy life you were ripped from, or a bad situation you just wanted to forget?” She answered matter of factly. Any bitterness was either not there or very well hidden, neither man could tell which was the case. “My situation wasn’t unique, but it certainly could have been worse. I learned to keep quiet during it all and to never ask.”

“Worse situations? I will admit to being ignorant about most Roundups.” Ignis states gently.

“Yeah, worse. Mine was just a ‘Corner and Capture,’ nothing special. No one to be taken from and no one to miss. I knew a few who had been taken from their parents just because they happened to lose the genetic lottery. One Changed late in life and their significant other turned them in the day they found out. Some farms aren’t the best, abuse of power runs rampant if you have the wrong handlers working there, even with the incentives the King gives.”

“If I may, how do you know all of this if it’s bad form to ask?” Ignis inquired.

“Noct never told you my story?”

“It wasn’t my story to tell” Noct said quietly, “and you don’t have to either if you don’t want to.” He gives her a soothing scratch on her head.

“Hmm. Well I am, was, the longest standing resident of the Main Duscae Shifter Farm, “The Claire Ranch.” My standing there made it so I was the one to take care of everyone. The babies born there, the children brought in, the teens and adults forced from their homes. The only ones I didn’t take care of were the ones who were going to be put down, but I made it my mission to try and help them when I could. I only succeeded twice that I know of, but I tried my best every time.” Her eyes closed and head leaned back against her Master’s knee, lost in memory. “I was the unwanted pet, a broken shifter because of my form. The foreman blamed my attitude, but I say I just refused to be tamed.” She had to chuckle at that memory. “The foreman never liked me because he couldn’t sell me and he wasn’t afraid to make it well known to all the merchandise.”

A waft of air came to her as the AC unit turned on to cool down the suite for the night. It brought with it a faint scent of flowers, leather, sunshine, and the unfamiliar. _Someone has an audience, better give them answers to their unasked questions._

“I took care of anyone and everyone who walked or was pushed through the front door. I would tell the children stories of the forests and plains, of the sun and sky. I would redirect the energies of rebellious teens and restore faith to adults that they would live just fine as the owned. I would reassure babies that they would find a good life even as they turned into cubs and pups in my arms. I would teach those to control the powers that they never wanted. I became the unofficial den mother of the ranch and knew everything because they would tell me. I was the one safe secret keeper that no normie could crack.”

“You’re her. You’re the one that they all talked about.” Genesis came out from around the corner of the hallway, startling the two humans. She turned her head to watch as the cat shifter came closer with each word. “We had a few shifters come from the Duscae region and they all talked about the one unwanted shifter who was the only thing they held on for. They said they didn’t want to disappoint her by giving up on the one life they had” He knelt in front of her as if pleading for it to all be true. “I had a few runaways brought back to the palace. They said they gave up instead of fighting and dying because they didn’t want to disappoint the one called the Broken Flower. That’s you?”

She nodded once. “More than likely. I tried to never shift in front of anyone. I was the only one they let move around the ranch without a chain on and I didn’t want to give them a reason to stop that. I’m not sure how anyone figured out I was broken there, let alone leave with the knowledge. They called me Broken Flower? Apt in a way. I am a broken shifter given my form.”

“Every single person I talked to that came from your region trusted you with their lives and their futures. They all came to find me once they found out that I was to be given to someone in Lucius. They all prayed that I find the one called the Broken Flower and thank her for believing in them.” He sat cross legged front of her, and Noct by proxy, though he only had eyes for Lilly. “I will tell you anything you want. So many people trust you with everything, it’s the least I can do.”

“I won’t ask. It’s your story to tell when you’re ready, not before. The only thing that we need to know is if you’re under any orders to report anything you hear, see, or learn, while in the Citadel to anyone other than your Master, Noctis.”

“No. I am under no orders or requests to talk to anyone of anything in the world.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t stand the ones that were in contact with me during my time in the Empire. They never treated shifters as anything other than mindless experiments.” He leaned back on his arms, staring up to the ceiling. She could tell he didn’t want to say anything, but he didn’t not want to either. “In a past life, I came from one of the noble houses in the Empire. No, they don’t treat their own any better than outsiders.”

_That explains his speech patterns. It never sounded common. It always sounded too clean._

“My family actually was very good at hiding me from the world. I learned to control my cat early on as well as furthering my studies in court politics and interpersonal skills. I was not allowed to make mistakes and by the time I was 15 I had such control over my form that I could change my eyes and skin patterns to make others do double takes for fun.” He held up one hand staring at it for a moment, then the most subtle shift happened. It became paler and paler until it was almost white then black spots formed in random places, “That is what got me in trouble. One of the family enemies put all the stories together from other houses and guessed what I was.”

He glanced at her and notices her holding back her hand. She wanted to touch and see if the fur was real but she didn’t want to distract him from his tale. He smirked and held out the furry looking hand to her. “It’s real. Feel for yourself. I’ll even show you a cool trick.”

“Oh? And what’s that?” She touched the hand and was surprised, it really was real. It’s not just a pattern, it was truly fur. She ran a finger up and down the back of his hand and pulled away squeaking in shock, startled when the spot she was tracing started following her finger.

He laughed, the first real one they had heard from him. “That is so cool. How did you do that?” She bolted to her knees getting a closer look at his hand. “I can control what turns but I can’t do that! How?” She looked up hopefully for answers then back at the hand to watch the spot move slightly to follow her finger. “This is so _creepy_. Do it again.” She couldn’t quite hold back the excitement in her voice.

“I would be honored to give you lessons later. I learned in my spare time to help control the changes under stress. It's not that hard as long as you have the focus and are willing to practice.”

He took a deep breath and Changed his hand back, “I wish it was a standard Corner and Capture. No mine was a public Disgrace and Disown when I was 25. My and my immediate family were rounded up and put on display. We had to prove we weren’t shifters by resisting some really impressive technology that can force a shifter to Change, no exception.”

“It was in the middle of some pompous ceremony. They first used it on the oldest, then the youngest. No shifters. Then came my age group. There were two shifters found, my cousin and I. I don’t remember much between that and arriving at the farm I was sent to, but I do remember there was a struggle and she got away in the chaos.”

“Cousin? Who is she? Wait, don’t answer that. You don’t have to tell us. Forget I asked.” Noct started to ask and then backed out as soon as he realized he was trespassing on grounds he was just told to stay off of.

“It’s alright, but I won’t answer unless it’s an order. I’m not worried for her though. Her new Master seems like a good person from what I’ve seen.”

“You’ve seen her? She’s ok from what you saw? Who’s her Master?” Noct seemed to really want to know. Lilly guessed that it was because if this cousin was in trouble, her Master would try to buy her right away to get her to a safe home.

“Yes. Her new Master seems like a clutz but is enthusiastic to have her. They may take a bit to get used to each other but I’m sure his sunny disposition will win her over in the end.” He smiled while saying this. He knew something and she can’t quite figure it out. _Stupid politicians_.

“You’re an ass, Gen.” Destiny said, coming out from behind the same corner to the hallway.

“Whatever do you mean, my lady Destiny? I am just trying to reassure these fine Masters that my cousin will be well cared for by her owner.” He had this huge grin on his face, like the coeurl caught a cockatrice. She whapped him on the back of the head with her hand but he never lost that full unabashed grin.

“Wait. Who is he talking about?” Ignis questioned, clearly confused.

“He’s talking about me.” Destiny glared down at the cat then looked up at the owners. “I’m his cousin and Prompto is the Master he’s talking about.”

“I'm from one of the smaller noble houses, but my parents were social climbers so I was forced to hang around this guy quite a lot. No, I can't control my bird the way he can his cat. I learned to control my emotions, not my beast.” She shook her head answering one question before it was asked. “I know a few tricks from lots of practice but nothing like him”

“I got away by biting one of the guards when I was half Changed. They didn't expect a female shifter to put up that much of a fight and they also hadn't drugged me like they did Gen. I didn't know where they took him and I didnt look while trying to stay free myself. Long story short, I was caught about two months ago and I didn't have any contact with this group until about three weeks ago when we were chosen as gifts.”

She sat down next to Genesis and looked over at the Masters. “You won’t find us in any of the records because we were never formally entered into the system as shifters. I don’t think you’ll find Justice in the records either because he was a last second addition to the group. Mara was first, Genesis next, then I, finally Justice. I think he only had a two week crash course on an empire farm. Not the best start if you ask me.”

_Explains why he doesn't know anything, and the hostility._

“Only two months? You seem like it's been longer.” Lilly piped up.

“Social climbers, remember. We always had pets around all the time so I just imitate what I saw. Minus the cringing around normies. Couldn't stand it when they did that. Well deserved in some houses, but not ours.” She shrugged. “I see why it happened now that I'm in the same situation, but I still don't like it.”

Lilly nodded and flicked her own collar with a finger. “Hard to not be with a threat on you at all times.” She rubbed her owner's leg comfortingly at the noise she heard above her. “I know you guys won't ever use them, but others aren't as nice to pets. I know I'd get zapped at least ten times a day with the way I act if I was anyone else's pet. Remember how I first was?”

“Unfortunately. You’re never going back to that.” her owner ruffled her hair and slid a finger over her bracelet. “Prince’s orders.”

She saluted him with the same hand, smiling. “Understood and willingly obeyed, Master.” He poked her in the back of the head for her cheek.

“You? Anything less than this? I can’t see it.” Genesis looked at her funny. “You do not seem the type to be meek and follow all orders.”

“Trainer remember? I could protocol circles around you every day of the week. It took these guys months to break me of the habit of not looking at them any higher than their ankles. Almost a year to give opinions of my own without some kind of prompting. Sheesh it took them a flat month to get me to eat in the same room as them without being ordered to sit down and eat. I’m not a doormat by any means but after way to long on that farm, they were hard habits to break. This right here and now? Wouldn’t have been possible for me when I first got here. I’d be over there being as unobtrusive as possible.” She motioned towards one of the far walls in the room.

“Prompto had to drag her by the hand everywhere when he wanted her to act human instead of a pet. You all are so much more” the advisor paused hunting for the right word to use, “wild I guess you could say, comparatively. Thanks to Lilliana we figured things out slowly, but breaking training isn't easy when it's so engrained like it was with her.”

“You were really that much of a pet? I have seen long term pets lose themselves sometimes. How did that not happen to you if everything was as ingrained as they say it was?” Genesis asked seriously.

“I’m not sure to be honest. I guess I retained some of me under everything because I had to stay me to help those passing through the best I could. My freedom in that farm depended on how well every other shifter behaved. The humans wouldn’t trust me if I was rebellious. The shifters wouldn’t trust me if I was a doormat. I don’t know how I handled it. I just did.”

Destiny got up and bowed informally to Lilly. “I’m glad they didn’t break you then. It’s nice to have a positive example to follow here. I know each Master will have a different level of protocol they want followed, but we have you to ask if we need to.” The shifter then walked out of the room towards hers without a backwards glance.

Genesis watched as his cousin walked out of the room. “Dusty has been a bit worried about things, but she hides it well. She has not been around humans, or really anyone without feathers, for a long time. She had forgotten how to interact. I will say it right now for the both of us. We will not be going anywhere. We will stay and figure out this new world with you and your humans.” He looked sideways back towards Lilly and the two humans with a smirk. “Besides. I still need to figure out how strong you are. Can’t do that anywhere but here.”

Lilly rolled her eyes and nudged him with a foot. She had put a tiny bit of strength behind it and shoved him back two feet without even trying. “You couldn’t take Gladio, you can’t take me. Nice try kitty.”

“You’ve got yourself a fanboy there kitten.” Noctis had leaned over a whispered in her ear. She turned bright red, turned, and pounced him.

Their wrestling got wild enough that Ignis called a halt to it by magically icing a pillow and throwing it at the two. They broke apart laughing and Noct threw it back at him. “Fine fine. We get the message. Bed time. Coming Lilly?”

“Nah. I’ll hang out here. Have a good night guys.” She waved at them with a smile and then turned back to Genesis. “Now. About that fur….”


	10. The Council of Evil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day back after a vacation is always the longest. Council meetings don't help it go any faster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a major block with this for some reason and it took forever for it to come to light.
> 
> It's day 6 after the gifting.

Someone really needs to turn off the light. It’s to bright out. She had just gotten to sleep a bit ago and now they’re turning on the lights? It’s still nighttime. She thinks for a moment. Wait. No. It’s daylight. And that was Ignis poking her to get her up and ready for the day’s council meeting at the ungodly hour of 8am. Who schedules meetings for eight in the morning? Her personal tormentor, the advisor, that’s who.

“I’m up. I’m up. Stop poking me.” She grumbled at the human. She opened up one eye and glared at the tall, lanky, blonde man. “I’m moving. Go away.”

“You really should be used to waking up by now. You and Genesis need to get ready. Now Up.” Ignis ordered firmly.  _ Wait. Genesis? _ She blinked sleepily after the human, brain trying to re-engage after such a late night.

She felt something, or someone, move behind her on the couch she was currently dozing on. Oh right. She had been trying to do the cool shifting trick that he knew and had fallen asleep in the middle of it. He must’ve not moved after she fell asleep.

She yawned and stretched in a whole body arch. It’s too dang early for this. “Yes Sir. Moving now.” She crawled slowly off the couch and staggered out to get ready.

Today was their first day getting back into a routine. Vacation was over and it was time for the council meetings to start again. She could usually nap during those if she were lucky and the table large enough for her to lay under. With the new shifters around though, that would probably not be the best idea. She sighed to herself. She really didn’t want to be the example for people to follow. She was a horrible example for people to follow.

A few minutes later she was making her way to the door when a thought occurred. “Hey Justice? You ever been to a formal meeting like this before?”

The other shifter had been just finishing up his meal at the table and looked over at her when she called. “No. Nothing like this I don’t think.”

“Has Ignis gone over things with you? What to expect and all that?”

He nodded. “Yes. For the most part. He said to stay where he points out and to not draw attention to myself. Doesn’t sound hard to me.”

“Good good. Did he say what to do if someone tries to order you around?”

He shook his head slowly. “No. He didn't think anyone would because I'm not theirs.”

_ Ah. He forgets my first few months then. _ “Alright. The phrase you need to remember is “If my Master wills it.” Which sounds as ostentatious as it feels to say, but it will give you and him time to react. Understand?”

“Why would anyone?” He started to ask.

She rudely interrupted him but this wasn't something she was going to argue about. “Because they are angry old gits who would love to live in the old days and be as powerful to their Ruler's property as they can get away with. I don't want you hurt by them because of their power play.”

His expression hardened and he glared at her. “I can take care of myself.”

Shaking her head she replied low and stern. “Not in this you can't. Mara might be able to get away with his background and Genesis might be better equipped than me with his. Destiny won't be there, she'll be with Prompto elsewhere. I've been around these guys for years and I still have problems with them. You haven't, by your own admission, been in formal situations like this and this is a meeting with the countries rulers, not just us.” She leaned forward against the table and growled just a bit, not bothering to hide her frustration at his idiocy. “You will not put your Master in harm's way because you are being stubborn in something this simple and important. Now do you understand the  _ Only _ phrase you are to utter during this?”

His eyes widened slightly and he leaned backwards a tiny bit. “Yes Alpha. If my Master wills it.”

At that she nodded and walked away from the table.  _ Alpha my foot. If I were any Alpha he wouldn't even question me on this. This is going to be a long day. _

She didn't notice her Master come up behind her or Genesis at his side. They were both giving her concerned looks, but for different reasons. Noctis could see how worried she was for the other shifter and could only think of one really bad idea to make it better. She wasn’t going to like this.

“Lilly.” She turned at her Master's call and startled that they were so close. Before she could say anything though he spoke again “Lilliana, Mid-Protocol.”

Her eyes widened significantly at the words. Immediately she bent into a formal bow, eyes low and hands clasped. “Yes Master, as you will.” At his command to rise she stood up straight and turned her head to the side, chin slightly raised, to give him access to her collar without her getting in the way.

Noct reached up and hooked her collar on gently, tugging slightly to get her to look over at him. “Do you trust me?” At her slow confused nod he smiled. “Do you trust me to know your limits on this and bring you back?” She nodded again with more conviction this time.

Genesis gave his own startled noise at her change in demeanor. Noctis looked over to the shifter and answered the unasked question. “She’s fine. She just needed to be in a better headspace for the meeting. Use her as an example of what you should be doing during meetings and we will take it from there.” He turned back to his first pet. “She will be just fine.”

The meeting was going to be long and boring judging by the looks the counselors were giving them all. As soon as they saw Justice walk through the door there were shouts of outrage that ‘the feral animal’ was in the room and could attack them at any moment. Their two humans just ignored them for the most part. Lilly ignored them as well and moved over to the cushions next to the wall at her Master’s command. Genesis and Justice followed her and took a seat on either side of her. She didn’t sit down yet though. She wanted the counsel to turn away before she relaxed even a tiny bit.

One of the younger counselors was mad enough to get out of their seat and stalk towards the shifters. Lilly stood her ground and didn’t back up even a step.The human couldn’t hurt her even if her Master wasn’t the Prince.

She kept her gaze down near his ankles as he approached, not challenging the human. She could feel the two men behind her shift in their spots, worried.

Her Master called over to the counselor, wondering why he was so upset.

“Your Highness, This animal attacked your advisor and yet you’re letting him run around free? Without binders at the very least?” The other counselors murmured their agreement around the table.

“He’s not my pet, Counselor. He’s Ignis’s. I trust him to make informed decisions about how much freedom and trust he gives his property. If he doesn’t believe Justice needs binders, then I won’t second guess him.”

After five minutes of back and forth debate on the subject of the shifters, her Master finally had enough. “Enough! If they wore binders would you all be willing to get on with this meeting? We do have other things to do today.”

“Yes Your Highness.” The man said after looking at the other Counselors. “That would be sufficient to assuage any discontent.”

“Fine. Ignis. You have LIlly’s binders?” The advisor nodded to the Prince and started for his briefcase. “Do you have any for Genesis and Justice?”

“I have Lilly’s, yes. I have one for Justice as well. I haven’t received Genesis’s pair yet from the armory.” He brought out two sets of informal leather arm binders from his case and set them on the table.

“Genesis can wear Lilly’s for now. They’ll fit him and she doesn’t need them. Genesis, attend.” The male shifter rose and approached his Master.

Ignis called over Justice as well and started to attach the binders to the shifter’s upper arms. The shifter couldn't hide a grimace at then binders but to his credit, didn't say anything. 

“That would not be well received Your Highness. Your pet should wear a pair as well. Safety first in all things.” The human conjolled her Master. 

Her Master raised an eyebrow at the man’s words but kept his thoughts to himself. “Anyone have an extra set then? Or do I have to call out for a set to be delivered?”

“I have one here,Your Highness.” Another councilman said. “My pet's batteries were running low so I have been carrying an extra set around in case they died unexpectedly.” The man held up a pair of armbands and handed them over when asked. They were gaudy things and not even close to what his pet was actually wearing at the moment.

Her Master called her over and started to put one on her. She couldn't suppress a small wince at the amount of power that small device sucked out of her without even being fully on. This was going to hurt if something actually did happen and she had to get rid of them fast.

Noctis noticed her wince and gave her a concerned look. She gave the tiniest of head shakes in return. She could handle this. It wasn't as bad as when she was wearing four. It was annoying, but she could deal. They were strong though. These weren't standard issue strength binders. Why did he have such strong binders? His pet wasn't any stronger than others of his species she’d met. She would have to look into it later.

As soon as he tightened it onto her arm it started pulling her strength at full speed. She was ready for it this time though and didn't wince when he put the second one on her other arm. She acted like they weren't even there and she could see the owner of the cuffs frown slightly out of the corner of her eye.  _ Didn't expect someone to be better at your own game did you? _

Her Master double checked the tightness of the cuffs and then sent her back over to the others. She bowed low and formal and went back to her position. This time she settled down into a formal kneeling position and started the waiting game for the end if the meeting. Nothing during it concerned any shifters so she tuned most of it out except for the sound of her Master's voice incase he needed her for something. 

There was an almost constant shuffle to her left as Justice kept trying to find a comfortable position and settle. She almost felt bad for the man. It had taken her at least a month to get used to sitting still in the beginning. Her feet kept tingling as they fell asleep under her. Genesis, on her right, was quiet except for a small shift of position very rarely. He had been a pet for about five years if she remembered correctly, so he would be familiar with this at least.

Finally the meeting was winding down and she started to pay more attention. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until someone mentioned "And what about the feral shifters in that area?" She felt the two men beside her stiffen at that and she had to force herself to not stiffen as well.

"There are no feral shifters in that area." Her Master said. "That area has been swept clean for years."

"You has been misinformed, Your Highness. There have been reported sightings in the area and the animals have been harassing locals near the farms." The man speaking was one of the older councilmen who didn't like shifters very much. "There have been reports of it up to the other day at the latest."

He looked over at Ignis, who gave him the slightest of headshakes. "Send the reports to me and I'll go over them. We will meet in two days to go over a plan of action."

"Your highness. This matter must be taken care of quickly. A decision must be made today."

"No. I will not make an ill informed decision that affects an entire species." The council started to protest but he held up a hand to stop them. "I do not care that they are just shifters. This will affect how the wild shifters are treated all around Eos, not just this area, and you know it. This is not up for debate. Send Ignis the information and we will meet in two days." The decision was announced with the authority of the King behind his words so the council did nothing more than grumble at his words.

The Prince stood and called his pets to follow him as he left the room. Ignis did the same with his and they all left swiftly before the council could close in on a new target.

The remainder of the day went smoothly and no other major issues about any shifters came up. By the time evening rolled around the Prince and Ignis were well and done with the day. Gladio and Mara came and went as their guard schedule permitted but they for the most part stayed in the shadows and only observed. They were not needed at all, thankfully.

Finally getting through the door to their suite was a blessing. Noctis practically collapsed on the couch before he remembered he still had Lilly in mid-protocol mode. He quickly ran back to her and unhooked her collar.

She was standing next to the door patiently waiting for her Master to give her permission to enter and move about. Genesis and Justice were watching her, worried when she refused to go further inside the door than the entryway.

"Shoot Lilly. I'm sorry. I forgot. Lilliana, you may forgo protocols and relax now." He removed the armbands that she still had on and tossed them out the door quickly. He didn't care if anyone found them. They weren't hers and refused to have them on her any longer. He took the ones off Genesis too when he was close enough to snag them. Gently pulling Lilly into the room, he led her to the couch and forced her to sit down on it despite her mild protests. It always took her a bit to come back from any level of protocol. The longer she had to do them, the longer it took her to get back.

He sat down next to her and pulled her close to him, nestling her snuggly under his arm and forcing her to curl up on the couch to fit comfortably. He looked to the worried shifters and called them over. "If you want to help, touch works best."

The men looked at the Prince and Lilly and then at each other. Decision made, they quickly got comfortable next to her as well. Genesis took a position by her side and laid her legs over his lap. He ran his hands up and down her legs gently. Justice sat below them all and held onto her hand gently massaging it all the way up to her elbow and back again.

She protested weakly trying to sit up straight but was forced back down by all three. It was their turn to look after her even if she thought she didn't need to be. Eventually she settled down, blinking away the protocols formed in her mind. She was back home. Back where she didn't need to be strict. Where she was free to roam and speak and sit where she wanted. Where she didn't need to worry about being anything other than herself. She sighed deeply and snuggled closer to her moonshine's side, relaxing for the first time in hours.

She couldn't see it, but he was smiling down at the top of her head relieved that she was coming back to him. The two shifters could feel the change in her as well and they in turn felt more relaxed now that their Alpha was feeling better.

Gladio and Mara came back to the suite to find them all napping on the couch, a giant cuddle pile of limbs. Justice had his head in Lilly's lap with her hand in his hair. Genesis was still under her legs but leaning more towards her than he had been. Noct was still her strength, his head nestled on hers and his arm around her shoulders protectively even in sleep. Ignis was watching them from his place in the kitchen, a small smile on his face. He held up a finger to his mouth to motion for them to be silent. 

Prompto and Destiny made it back later that night, tired from training and guard duty. He promptly tackled Noct in protest of him forcing Lilly to be in any protocol, but he wasn't too mad, seeing as she was back to what he last saw her like. Lilly gave him a hug and forced him to be in their cuddle pile, refusing to let any of the men get away. Ignis put on one of their favorite movies and made popcorn for them all. Gladio joined them, sitting in his own favorite chair just out of reach of the cuddle pile.

Mara and Destiny found their own spots on the floor near everyone, also just out of reach. No one that went into the pile had made it out as of yet and they didn't want to be sucked in. It was fun to watch though.

Everyone had made it through the day in one piece. And that was the way it should be.


	11. Day 7 excitement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justice has finally had enough. How will Ignis react to this?

Ignis was strong for a 23 year old pure blood human. He regularly tested Lilliana to make sure she was up to his standards for protection of his Highness. He never let her get away with slacking off from training with Gladio or the Kingsglaive. He always made sure to be twelve steps ahead of everyone at all times no matter what the situation was. So when Justice turned to the sky frustrated beyond belief after a week of his new life, Ignis was ready for it.

The first day the slightly older man surprised him with his Change. No pet was allowed to shift indoors unless they were smaller than twelve feet long snout to tail, so he wasn't ready for a 40 foot long snake appearing from thin air. He should have been, but the gifting had been a last second thing by the Empire and the man named Ardyn. He should have been more ready for a trick. As soon as he had gotten over his momentary shock, he had drawn his weapons to backup Lilliana as much as he would have been able to. He wouldn't be taken by surprise again.

Ignis was ready when the 25 year old snarled in frustration and turned towards him. He was ready for the shifter to Change into his animal form and for the weapons to appear magically in his hands ready for use. He was also ready for when the shifter rushed him as fast as his form allowed.

Ignis himself was quick on his feet after years of constant training with the Kingsglaive and Crownsguard. He was faster than most gave him credit for and agile enough to dodge out of the way of the rushing snake. He was ready for the speed and the swords. He was not ready for the tail to come and flick him in the side, knocking him against a nearby tree and knocking the wind out of him.  _ Freaking snakes. All muscle. It's just like fighting two people. Three if you include the size and reach difference. _

He took one second to breathe then jumped out of the way of another swipe, this time avoiding the tail swipe he knew was coming. This was a very lopsided fight. Time to even the odds. He pulled his favorite javelin out of the armiger and waited for the snake's next move.

He knew most people and animals fought side to side but rarely thought of up and down as an option. So far the snake-man had come from the front and sides but didn't use his height to his advantage, probably thinking the human would get tired or get caught easily.  Instead of going to the sides this time, he jabbed his javelin into the ground and pole vaulted up and over the torso of Justice, switching out to his daggers mid-air and landing on the shifter's back. He immediately started to fall off of the slippery scales as the shifter whirled to try and find the human so he dug one dagger into the scales below his feet to steady him. The shifter screamed in pain and rage and thrashed so hard the dagger came unstuck, allowing Ignis to slide off and roll to the side.

He switched out to his javelin again and waited for the next lunge before stepping to the side and under a swinging arm. Justice took the high road this time and extended himself high above Ignis with his powerful tail, swords at the ready. He lunged straight down at the human driving his swords deeply into the ground where the human had been just a moment before. Ignis had run forward, under the lunge and used the javelin as a vault once again this time landing behind Justice's head on the human part of his torso. He quickly slipped his arms around the head, holding one dagger to the shifter's throat, not cutting yet, but not allowing him any room to move either. "Submit" he growled out. Justice gave his own growl but no words appeared.

This shifter deflated after a minute and Ignis released him, jumping back down onto the ground. Both were breathing hard from pain and exertion. They squared off again weary of what the other was capable of. Ignis never blinked as he stared down Justice, a mere 20 feet between them. Justice could easily have lunged at the human again in an attempt to subdue him, but instead he started shrinking. Ignis watched as the huge Lamia shifter turned back into his human form and knelt down in front of him, head bowed submission. He didn't give up his weapons yet, he wasn't completely sure if this was over or not.

Justice stayed bowed on the ground, never looking up even when Ignis approached him cautiously. He had been beaten again, this time by a mere human. The man was now his Superior and Master. He wouldn't try to resist anything the human decided. He wouldn't be surprised if he was killed though, he did just attack the man suddenly and without provocation.

Ignis on the other hand was conversing silently with Lilliana who had been watching the entire ordeal. She had put her hand over her heart and gave a deep formal bow of submission. She didn't look worried and indicated that Justice was offering himself as submissive to Ignis. He gave her a nod and looked back down at the shifter in front of him. He held out his hand and put it on top of the other man's head, grasping his hair firmly, just this side of cuel. "You are mine and will never attack me or mine again. I will not give another chance. Am I understood?"

“Yes Master. I understand.” The shifter ducked his head as much as the hand on it allowed. He didn’t pull or make to move away. He didn’t want to anger his Master any more than he already had. His Master proved his strength and knew his place now. Whatever will happen to him will happen.

“Stay.” Ignis gave the hair one more clutch before releasing it and backing away, watching. The shifter didn’t move so he put his other dagger away back into the armiger. He didn’t relax though. He wouldn’t take any risk that the shifter might attack again, though the way Lilliana was acting suggested he wouldn’t do so. She would never take any risks with Noctis being around.

The Prince ran up to his advisor and double checked the man for any injuries. Ignis assured him that he was fine, just a bit winded and to not worry. Noctis protested and kept checking for injuries “Lilly wouldn’t let me get close to help. She said it was a fight for dominance? And not one to kill.”

“Ah. That makes sense. I was expecting this to an extent. I think it’s over now so we don’t have to worry about it anymore.” He winced slightly when Noct found a particular sore spot on his back.

Lilly came up behind them visually double checking the advisor herself. “He submits to you Ignis. He won’t attack again.” At his look she motioned to all the shifters there, “You seem to forget we’re animals at the core. Dominance and submission are needed to us. You haven’t had to deal with it with me because there were no other shifters around until now. I had it trained out of me years ago. Justice? Not so much. He had to test his Master to make sure you were dominant to him. Gladio and Genesis with the challenge the other day? Steady beta for both of them with Gladio a slightly higher rank. Destiny? I’m not sure, maybe a Gamma. Prompto is the enigma. Mara is straight beta. Justice, Omega. I see Noctis as my Alpha so any I hold higher rank than I do, they will follow. They will all probably test you in their own ways since you four allow more freedom that any other Masters.”

“Ignis, my question is why didn’t you use the collar control? I know you have it and those binders were on his arms but the power draw was low. Why didn’t you use them or let others use them?”

Ignis sighed and looked around, eyes landing on his shifter, Justice. “I didn’t use them because I didn’t want to hurt him. I knew he might attack and I was ready for that. I never got a feeling he was going for a kill. I could take him to the point of him submitting or I would have to take it a step further, I was going to do it myself. He's mine and my responsibility."

Noctis looked at her curiously from where he was prodding a bruise forming on Ignis's skin. "You've never tested me. At least not like this."

She let out a small chuckle and said "I do my testing every time we spar. I don't fight for dominance anymore, but I fight for you to stay dominant, my Sir. I can't keep you safe in the political world, but I make sure you stay safe in the animal one."

Ignis thought quietly on that for a few minutes. Yes, she always seemed to push Noctis as hard as she could when they spared. She never gave him a chance to have any weakness to be exploited. Even Gladio had trouble finding openings from Noct after she had finished training with him. She did that with all of them to a degree now that he thought about it.

He looked over to his pet again thinking  _ he must be following more instincts than I understood them to have. I have to learn more. _ Outloud he asked Lilly what she thought would be a good punishment for Justice. 

She had crouched down in front of the other shifter and was cataloguing his injuries to herself. Making a curious noise she answered "You could do anything and he won't fight you. He's going to be beating himself up mentally more than you probably ever could. Stronger binders and more restrictions would be my suggestion though." She held up her hand taking a look at the cut on the shifters neck.

"Why would he be beating himself up mentally."

She looked over her shoulder at the human with a look of 'seriously?' on her face. "Ignis. What are you?"

"The Prince's advisor." He said automatically. "No, you're not asking that. I'm a human."

She nodded at his answer and asked him another. "And what is Justice?"

"A shifter."

Another nod. "Exactly. And you made him submit to you. A full blooded shifter, the stronger species, submitted to a full blooded human, the weaker species. Yes we shifters are human's pets, but not because you are strong physically." She looked back to Justice and was lifting his hair, checking his face for any injuries. "It's not an easy thing to get over especially when you've lived free and among kin all your life." She said something to Justice he couldn't catch and the shifter blinked in reply, still not moving from Ignis's earlier order.

That was something to think about. It explained almost everything about Justice's behavior. He knew himself biased to thinking shifters were the lesser species because of the way he was raised. They were always subservient to humans and it was taken advantage of by some. The shifter probably thought the same in his own way. He nodded to himself and made his decision. He wouldn't hurt the man but he wouldn't let him get away with it either. He did attack without provocation and injure Ignis a bit.

Ignis pulled out a new pair of cuffs from the armiger. A pair he had made just in case something like this happened. He had taken the councilman's cuffs from the night before and had them duplicated in a less gaudy fashion. He pulled out a second pair and then a third, all different sizes for different placements. "Lilly. Away from mine." He ordered as he walked closer to the pair.

"Yes Sir." She got up and backed away without further comment. 

"Justice. Look at me." He waited until the shifter raised his eyes and met Ignis's own. "You attacked me, as I understand it, as a push for dominance. That isn't an excuse so until I deem it time you are to be bound with six strength binders and the strictest protocols are to be enforced." He tossed down two of the binders. "These are for your wrists. Attach them."

He waited as the shifter put them on one by one. First his wrists, then his ankles. He needed help putting on the bicep pair, but he did it all without comment. Ignis didn't feel bad when he saw the flinch go through the shifter as he felt each one working at full strength. Four would put an average shifter down to a human teenager's strength, six would take it even further and reduce him to that of a pre-teen. It would be a hard adjustment, but it would cause no permanent damage.

As soon as the final binder was in place the shifter returned to his kneeling position with his head down. His Master hadn't said he could look up and around and he said the protocols would be enforced. He didn't remember all of them but he would try his best with what he did know. He was being allowed to live, he couldn't and wouldn't argue with anything else.

Ignis sighed internally. He didn't want to do this. He didn't like the binders and protocols but they were necessary in this case as punishment. Four days. He would enforce them for four days and then go from there. If Lilly's initial behavior years ago was anything to go by, high protocol would not be easy but it would leave the most amount of time for the man to think about what had happened.

"Justice, attend." Ignis barked out. The shifter startled at the sudden command but stood up immediately and went to his Master's side. He kept his eyes down, fighting the urge to look up and around. Ignis made sure the man was following him then lead the rag tag pack inside to continue their day.

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor shifter dominance fights would stay Ignis from doing his duty to the Crown. Now only if getting Noct to eat his vegetables were this easy comparatively. 


	12. For only a want of a nap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lilly needs a day to herself so she goes and hides away in her secret spot above the main entrance to the citadel. But knowing her luck, it's not going to be a quiet day like she hoped.

It was her spot. No one but a shifter could get to this spot and no shifter had as much freedom as she did to even find this spot. It was her “I need to be alone and think” spot and her “I don’t want to human” spot. It was high above the heads of every other human in the room and only a shifter, or a tenacious Kingsglaive, could get up there to bring her back down. Her humans knew where to find her if they needed her though.

She had made sure she wasn’t needed at any of the meetings today and then took off for her self indulgence day. She couldn’t go out and walk around the city like a normal human, but she could have lots of fun watching the tourists in the citadel lobby. They were such a crazy bunch of humans most hoping to get a glimpse of the Prince or King. There were always a few that wanted to get a peek at her, but she rarely followed the groups anymore now that she was comfortable with her moonshine and the way he wanted her to be free.

Today’s tourists looked like a mix of the two. Voices wafted up to her, some asking if they were going to see the Prince, some asking where exactly the group was going, if they would see particular rooms. One particular loud one wondered if they’d see the free roaming animal so they could discipline it. She rolled her eyes at that one. Her collar was mostly for show nowadays, the power turned down as far as possible. Her power binders were just decoration. They weren’t turned on at all. As far as she knew, she was the only unbound shifter in the place, and probably the city. Not that the collars did anything to her on a normal setting anyway. Only the niff-made stuff hurt her anymore and Noctis kept that far away from her. Maybe she'll drop down on that normie later just to scare the Astrals out of them.

Up high above them she didn’t need to pretend to be a pet, to be submissive to anyone, to even have an owner. She could pretend she was completely free and about to head home to her little spot in the Fallgrove.  _ Wonder if it’s still standing. Probably not. _ The monsters had probably gotten to it by now without her around to defend and hold her home lines.

She let her thoughts wander over many different topics, not really landing on anything in particular until she thought of the new shifters in her life. They were all so different than her and what she was used to. Nobility, military, and a college student. Nothing even remotely close to any of the other shifters she had to take care of over the years.

Justice was a youngster. A natural born shifter and a brand new pet. Probably respected his teachers more than his current Master if truth be told. She didn’t blame him in the least though. Who would when you’re forced to be something you never thought you’d be. He was a quick learner though once you got it through his head that it was that way or nothing. She had caught him reading etiquette books in Ignis’s study after the human had to run off to a last second meeting. He ate up books almost as fast as Gladio did. At least when no one was looking. As soon as someone was, he got shy and worried that he wasn’t allowed into the room. She guessed that his nest had a couple of strict Alphas that restricted his free learning even though he got to go out into the world and go to college.

After mentioning it to Ignis, the human had started leaving books out on his desk or side tables in the various rooms to entice the Lamia shifter to read more openly. The past few days hadn’t been that conducive to letting Justice roam around and read, seeing as he was on high protocol restrictions, but she’d bet that Ignis had a plan to get the shifter to get out of his shell a bit later on.

She also caught him dipping his tail into the pool a few times when they had first arrived. Apparently he liked water just as much as Destiny did, but they never showed off at the same time or with people around.

Destiny was a strange one. She was never really in the same room as the others, but she was always around the edges in case something was needed. There were to many times that Prompto needed something and was about to get up to go get it when Destiny was just there with whatever it was. She would hand it off and then,  _ poof _ , disappear off into the periphery again. The female would probably be an Omega if she didn’t have the confidence to back up her Gamma status. She never tried to order anyone around or push when suggesting things, the few rare times she talked. She didn’t take things at face value though and questioned orders if they sounded strange.

Lilly knew she loved water though. Especially when in bird form. Lilly had caught the big chocobo splashing in a big puddle in the gardens after it rained one night. She was making quiet happy Kweh sounds and ducking her head into the water. She looked like any other bird in a birdbath, enjoying the time to the fullest. It was such a cute sight and she wished she had a camera on her at the time. Another time Lilly had seen Destiny floating in the pool as a bird, She was the exact image of a bath ducky as content and calm as she was acting.

Prompto had taken his chocobo pet down to the stables a few times to brush her out after a long day of training. Lilly hadn’t had a chance to observe them there yet but she bet her sunshine had found his perfect therapy bird in Destiny.

Genesis. Now there was a cat. She had rarely interacted with other cats, even during her time on the farms. They just weren’t endemic to where ever she was located. He watched people more than Gladio did and was about as suspicious as Cor was of new people. He loved sunlight almost as much as she did and wasn’t afraid to stop in windows to look out for a few moments before continuing on. They had gone outside a few times during the first week and he would Change and lounge in sunbeams as long as he was allowed. One night they had stayed out late and Noct had used him as a lounge chair while looking at the stars. It was cute the way he zapped the bugs away from Noct using his whiskers.

Mara was difficult for her to figure out. He took her as an Alpha without a second thought and refused to even entertain the thought that Lilly might not actually be one. He never talked about himself but if you asked him a fact about history, he could tell you everything about it. He knew mythology, religious texts, stuff about the Oracle that even Ignis didn’t know. He could even go toe to toe with herself on animal facts. Though she bet he let her get the upper hand on those conversations. He was always formal, or at least very respectful. He passed every test Gladio had given him so far and he didn’t even need to borrow his animal’s strength. He didn’t rely on it much at all. He didn’t seem to like being a shifter much truth be told. Sure it’d be hard to Change into a 70ft tall dog in the middle of the citadel, but he didn’t even do it outside after he was told he was allowed to. He had to be a stress born shifter by the way he just didn’t want to Change, but when he does, he has the speed of a natural born. She’ll have to keep guessing until he tells her one of these days.

Lost in her thoughts, it took her a moment to notice the sounds of a disturbance below her. Looking over the edge of her hiding spot she saw a man surrounded by Crownsguard far below her. He was brandishing a knife and being backed up against the statue she was on.  _ Seriously? Can’t I go one day without excitement happening? _

The man was yelling about animals, the Prince, and the King. She wasn’t sure exactly what he was saying because it was so disjointed, but she got the gist of it. He was mad at how the Prince and King were allowing the pets in the Citadel so much freedom and was demanding they go back to the old ways.  _ Humans. _ Why this was such a big contention point she could never figure out. It’s not like shifters wanted to be in charge. Most just wanted to live in peace and be left alone. Sure there were the few who thought they should be in power, but they were mostly drowned out by the others. There were bad eggs with the humans as well so she didn't put much stock into either extreme side.

She was about to turn around and go back to her own thoughts when one phrase stood out to her "Let the kid go!" She looked back down as fast as possible and could see the man was actually hunched over something smaller than him.  _ Oh Ifrit no. You do NOT bring kids into your stupidity. _ The man was almost directly below her so she looked around for a target to aim for. Luck was on her side and Gladio and Mara were in the ring of Crownsguard surrounding the man.

"Mara. Hey Mara." She called out in a normal volume. She saw his head twitch and she knew he could hear her through all the shouts. "Hey Mara. I know you can hear me. Look up." The shifter looked up and she gave him a small wave when he met her eyes. "Hi. Take a step to your right and be ready to catch."

She could hear a faint, confused “Alpha? What?” as he took a step to his right. As he did so, she dropped straight down landing hard right behind the human. The man felt the thump of her landing and turned to face her in confusion but before he could get a word out she swept the arm holding the knife down and away from the child with her own. Then with her other arm, she flat-palm shoved him hard in the chest. He flew backwards off his feet directly into the waiting arms of Mara. The shifter caught the human and was pushed back a few feet even though he was braced for the impact.

The Crownsguard was stunned for just a moment before they swarmed the human, taking him into custody. 

She put them all out of her mind and turned to the child the human was using as a shield. It was a little girl no older than twelve years old. The poor thing was shaking so hard that Lilly thought she was going to vibrate right out of her shoes. A quick once over told her all she needed to know. The girl was a shifter, stressed to the point of almost Changing into her animal form. Lilly needed to act fast to stop the Change from happening.

“Hey sweety, are you OK?” Lilly knelt before the girl looking her in the eye.

“You. You. A human. You hurt a human.” The girl’s voice was small and shaky. Her eyes were a bit too wide and looking between Lilly and the guard in shock. 

“He was going to hurt you, baby. I couldn’t let that happen. Not in my territory.” Lilly said soothingly. Trying to calm the girl down. It didn’t seem to be working though.

“But. He’s human. Animals can’t touch humans or they’ll be punished.” The pitch in the child’s voice kept getting higher and more scared with each breath.

“It’s OK sweety. We aren’t in any trouble. Just breathe. No, don’t look over there. Eyes on me. What’s your name?

“I don’t have a name.” The girl was almost in tears but slightly distracted by the question.

“Yes you do, sweety. What do your parents call you?” Lilly asked gently.

“Jasmine. They called me Jasmine. There are humans around, why are you talking? They’re going to punish me.” She bit out in a scared whisper.

“Hey, hey. Eyes on me, Jasmine. Ignore them. They won’t do anything to you. You aren’t in trouble. Listen to me. You aren’t in any trouble. I take care of them and they take care of me. They don’t punish pets for saving other people and they certainly don’t punish the victim.”

Lilly could hear someone coming up behind her so she held out her hand to stop them from getting any closer. She didn’t know who it was, but this child did not need any humans getting closer to her than they already were. She kept having to pull the attention of the girl back on her. With each passing moment the girl’s shaking got worse. This wasn’t going well. “Mara, I need you.” She whispered to the air and right away the man appeared in the corner of her vision. “She needs pack. Help me, please.”

She tugged the girl’s arm gently and the girl fell startled into her arms. She wrapped her arms around the girl in a tight hug, protecting her from the world around them. Mara, took his cue and enveloped both the females in a tight hug, surrounding the girl with his calming scent of pack.

Jasmine struggled against their arms for a moment until she realized that they weren’t hurting her. She was safe. Her trembling slowly subsided and she fell into an exhausted asleep on the female shifter’s shoulder with a whispered sigh “Alpha.”

_ Poor thing. To much excitement for her today. _

Lilly stood up, careful to not wake the girl, and looked over to the Crownsguard to see what they wanted to do next. Mara left to go talk to Gladio and make suggestions on how the girl should be handled. Soon one of the guard’s pets came over and held out their arms to take the girl from Lilly. The pet swore to her, quietly, that they would take good care of her and try to find her family. They also promised to not leave the girl alone with only humans so that she wouldn’t be overwhelmed. With that reassurance, Lilly allowed the girl to be taken out of her arms and carried away with the Crownsguard and their pets.

“The guard is going to want to talk to you, Lilly. What were you doing up there anyway?” Gladio had come over and was watching the others depart.

“I was up there thinking. I needed a day to myself, so much has been happening lately. I needed to organize my thoughts. It was starting to remind me of when I first got here. Excitement almost every day. At least Noct wasn’t here this time.” Gladio had to nod at that.

She stretched long and tall. “Think I could get away before they noticed? I want a nap.”

Gladio snorted at that. “You always want a nap. You’re worse than Noct. No. You are going to give your statement first. Then you can go have your nap.”

She sighed but started to lead the way to the last of the guard still in the room. “Yes Sir. Let’s get this over with.”

It was going to be a long afternoon.


	13. Curiosity didn't kill the dog, but he kept getting in trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shifter Mara has questions and he can't seem to find the answers. Maybe he actually needs to talk to the focus of his curiosity for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline - Day 11 after The Gifting

His Alpha was a beast. She had so much power packed into such a small package that it seemed unreal. That power was rarely flaunted it though. If anything she hid it. Sure she picked up her Master and his friend without thought, but outside around other humans, she never touched anything if she could help it it seemed.

She didn't bump into anything or accidentally brush against things in tight corridors. She always stayed to the side of her Master, out of the way until someone upset him and then she would get in between them, subtly leading her Master away from what made him angry. She never touched anyone while doing this and it was quite fascinating to watch. She never had to say a word either. She spoke volumes with just her eyes and posture. Even the humans could read her easily when she wanted them too.

Though the most impressive thing was her strength when she did use it. From what he had seen, taking down Justice, stopping Genesis's and Gladio's sword fight, and the many smaller shows of power, she was stronger than he was, even without the binders on. He guessed her’s were either on low power or off entirely, but he didn't want to ask. That was between her and her Master and he didn't need to know. If they were on she was even more powerful than he thought. That idea was a bit terrifying truth be told.

She was always watching everything or listening for cues that she was needed as well. When she was in her feline form her ears were constantly twitching, following every sound around her. Mara wondered just how sensitive her hearing was. Probably not quite as sensitive as his, but it could be close.

Where did that strength and agility come from though? He just couldn’t figure it out. She Changed either fast or slow depending on her mood, and the control over that Change. He had never seen anything like it except in older natural borns. Not many practiced that much to have that ability. They were usually collared before gaining that ability and humans only cared for the form they Changed into, not how controlled the Change was. That was a shifter point of pride. He himself only Changed when necessary and it was as quick as possible.

His Alpha proved to be a breed above all others with every day that passed. He only wished he knew  _ Why _ .

Getting caught and collared made getting those answers interesting. As a pet, it wasn’t like he could waltz into any library or barracks and find the intel he needed to figure that out. Thankfully his new Master was a Noble in this country’s capital. He was the Shield to the Prince no less. This allowed him far more freedom than he could’ve hoped for with anyone else as a Master.

Not that he had anything in particular he wanted to do with the access and info. He was completely loyal to his Alpha, but he was a scout and spy by trade and by nature. Intel gathering was his forte, so he didn’t like mysteries to stay unanswered around him.

Every chance that he got he would question other pets or humans his Master trusted to see what they knew about his Alpha. He never learned much by word of mouth; Caring, Loyal, Trustworthy, A Nightmare to those who hurt hers, etc. but nothing about her actual past.

He did stumble across her ‘Adoption’ papers in the library one day. They weren’t in the restricted section or where the other papers had been located so he wondered if they had been placed there by accident, or on purpose if he was being paranoid. What he read only gave him more questions than answers though.

Claire Ranch - Pet Adoption Ranch

Name: Last  Unknown , First  Lilliana

Age:  Unknown - Estimated 25 years

Animal Form:  Feline - Coeurl - Incomplete

Origin:  Unknown

Roundup Location:  Duscae Region, Chocobo Post

Intake Date:  March 15, M.E. 737

Estimated Strength (scale 1-10):  4

Details:  See attached

He didn’t have time to read everything but what he did read gave him pause. His Alpha was already about 25 years old over twenty years ago? She didn’t look a day over 25 now! How was that even possible? Unless she was three when she got there, but then why would the estimated age say 25? Something about the papers didn’t seem right. There wasn’t enough information for potential owners to know who they were adopting. Based on what he knew of her, her base strength should be a 7 at least, if not more. And Incomplete left to much unsaid. There might be more information on the other pages but usually all the important information would be in the first page so the human could scan it and know everything important without having to search.

He was deep in thought trying to figure it all out when his Master urgently called for him to follow. There was a disturbance in the Citadel lobby that needed backup. Rushing out of the library, the two arrived just in time to see the Crownsguard corralling a knife wielding man.

The man was holding a little girl close to his person and the Crownsguard had him cornered by a tall statue but the man refused to let her go. He kept calling for the King and the Prince to be brought down to him. Yelling that he was going to show them the proper way to own an animal.

That made Mara see red. You don’t bring children into your fights no matter how passionate you are about it. He was about to charge in and remove the man’s arms himself when a familiar voice caught his attention. “Mara. Hey Mara.” He looked around trying to find where the voice of his Alpha was coming from. “Hey Mara. I know you can hear me. Look up.”

He looked up and at the very top of the statue she saw his Alpha waving down at him. What the? Why is she up there? How did she get up there? “Hi. Take a step to your right and be ready to catch.” He was completely confused, but took a step to his right, wondering what she had planned. Apparently she needed him free for some reason but he had no idea why.

He lost a year off his life when he saw her drop down from the top of the statue. Her perch had to be at least 50 feet above the ground. Even for a fully powered shifter that would be a drop, but she did it without batting an eye. She landed hard but rebounded right away to push the weapon away from the girl. Then she hit him  _ Hard _ . It became very apparent why she had him take that step away from Gladio.

The man flew at Mara faster than any human would be able to catch and not be hurt in the process. As it was, bracing for impact was the best he could do and when the man hit him, he was pushed back several feet before being able to stop his momentum. The man thankfully had the breath knocked out of him, and possibly a few ribs broken, and he wasn’t going to be struggling anytime soon. Mara held onto him tightly just in case though until one of the Crownsguard came over and cuffed the man.

Once his arms were free he took a moment to just watch his Alpha. She was crouched down in front of the child, her entire focus on the small human in front of her. She was speaking quietly, quiet enough that even his sharp ears could barely pick up the words. She kept trying to calm the girl down and keep her focus away from all the guard around them. 

He slowly made his way closer hearing something that broke his heart “I don’t have a name.” The little girl was a shifter. That human male piece of trash had made her feel like she didn’t get a name because she wasn’t a human herself.

He wanted to go back and teach that human the fury of an adult shifter but his Alpha called out to him “Mara, I need you. She needs pack. Help me, please.” His Alpha came first. He could go teach the human a lesson later. He wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

He wrapped his arms around the two females keeping them safe in his embrace. He wouldn't let anything happen to them. Either of them. He made sure to keep both of their heads below his shoulders so that he could keep an eye on everything around them. Nothing would sneak up on them on his watch.

Soon the girl fell asleep on his Alpha’s shoulder and he backed away slightly to let the older female stand up. He double checked that both of them were unharmed. When they both passed inspection he made his way over to his Master.

Gladio was talking to one of the officers about the situation and gave Mara a nod when he saw the shifter approaching.  The officer said “We need to take that little girl and get her checked out. Send one of the guard over to retrieve her from Lilly.”

“That wouldn’t be wise, Sir.” Mara bowed slightly when the humans turned towards him. “Master, Sir. She’s a shifter. She’s stressed to the point of almost Changing. If you have one, send a shifter to get her from Lilliana. She’s terrified of humans. I don’t know where she came from but it doesn’t look good if she’s that scared. She needs to be with a shifter at all times, preferably an Alpha one so she feels safe.”

The officer made a noise of agreement and motioned to one of his men to approach. “Gales. You have a pet right? Alpha?” 

“Yes Sir. Alpha as far as I’m aware. You need them to do something?” The guardsman asked.

“I need them to go get the girl from Lilly. It’s been brought to my attention that the girl is a shifter and stressed at that. Not a good combination. We need to handle this carefully. Take care of it.”

“Yes Sir. We’ll take care of it.” The guardsman left to to go find his pet and soon returned with them. They sent them over to Lilly and after a few moments they took the little girl carefully out of her arms. The girl didn’t wake except to stir slightly and then settle down once on the other shifter’s shoulder.

He had to smile when his Alpha tried to get out of talking to the officers about what had just happened. He himself didn’t want to talk to them but a debriefing was a debriefing. It was never fun but necessary. It took them about a hour to go through everything and answer the officer’s questions to his satisfaction. Despite her flippant attitude to escape, his Alpha took the questions very seriously and tried to answer to the best of her ability. He followed suit like he would’ve back in his unit and the officer didn’t have any more questions after that.

Back in the suite, LIlly snuck off to go nap like she wanted. She Changed right away and bounded away to find a spot to curl up. The Prince was right there following her, trying to get the story out of her. A very hard task seeing as she deliberately Changed to a form that couldn’t talk. It was fun to watch the two back and forth though. They had their own language and apparently the Prince was getting more out of her body language than a normal human could.

Gladio came up behind Mara and put a hand on the shifter’s shoulder. “You know. You can ask her any questions you have. She’ll more than likely answer them. No need for this sneaking around behind our backs to figure out stuff. Why were you looking into her anyway?” The hand gripped his shoulder tighter with each sentence, protective of his friend.

Mara blanched slightly at the realization he wasn’t as quite as subtle as he should have been.  _ The papers.  _ “I just wanted to know about my Alpha. No other reason. She wouldn’t answer anyway. It’s not a  shifter thing to answer about the past.”

“It’s a Lilly thing. That cat will answer almost anything past the point you don’t want to know. She’s weird like that. Go and ask her. And  _ Don’t _ go looking into anyone again without asking first. We know when it’s happening.” The shield shoved the shoulder he was gripping, pushing the shifter forward and towards the Prince and pet.

Stumbling, Mara glanced back over his shoulder at his Master in shock but quickly schooled his face and slowly approached the pair. It was strange going up for answers from his actual interest. He usually had to work around them and they never knew he was curious. This would be a very different experience for him.

“Lilly. Would you be willing to answer some questions for me? You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I’m just curious is all."

Lilly was holding the Prince at bay from getting to her with a paw on his forehead. The Prince couldn't remove the paw or push her leg back at all. It was quite comical and Mara had a hard time not laughing at the sight.

_ "Gladio finally push you to talk to me? Sure. What's up?" _ She hadn't Changed but he could still understand her easily. 

"You knew too? Astrals I'm rusty."

" _ I know everything that goes on around here. What do you want to know?" _

He looked sheepish at that for a moment but collected himself and asked "I was wondering if you could give me more information about yourself. I saw your papers and they gave me more questions than answers." At her promoting look he continued, "It said your estimated power level was a 4? You're clearly not a 4, more like a 9 after today. Why so low?"

She started to answer when her Master poked her in the side and told her to use her words. She huffed and Changed back laying on her stomach on her perch, head tilted up to look at her Master. "Spoilsport. You know all the answers already. Let me be mysterious for once."

Her Master just rolled his eyes at her. "Actually I don't know. I've never seen your papers. You're thinking Specks."

"Anyway.” She drew out the word so it was several syllables long. She then perked up onto her elbows and started talking. ”So there was this Dualhorn."

**********

A few hours later Mara was laying on his back next to the pool, alone. He was going over everything Lilliana had said in his mind. After she had finished telling Leviathan sized tales, he got all the answers he probably ever would from her. At first he couldn't tell what was exaggerated and what was truth, but he eventually caught on to a gleam in her eyes whenever she was stretching the truth. It made reading her easier in the end.

He found out most of what he wanted, but only to a point. The problem was, she didn't know about her past. It just started one day when she was in the Fallgrove forest. Amnesia was a Witch according to her. She just went with it and never felt an urge to look into her past. He’d be to curious not to go looking. He loved a good mystery, trying to figure out all the clues before anyone else. He just wanted to know everything.

His curiosity had gotten him into trouble a few times he would admit. Snooping in his superior officer’s private life was probably not the best idea he had ever had and was more than likely the what had gotten him his own After Mission Roundup Party. It wasn’t his fault the man had three wives and two girlfriends that all didn’t know about each other. He wasn’t sure how the man would’ve found out it was him anyway. He was in Galahd when they all contacted him at the same time on the same day. And it certainly wasn’t his fault that their communication signals were scrambled so well that the man had answered each call by the wrong names and endearments. They had all divorced him that day.

Mara didn’t feel guilty about that one at all. You don’t cheat on your mate. They were the other half to your animal and the champion of your wards. It didn’t matter if they were forever mates or just partners. You don’t break trust with thim.

Why her though? He was an Alpha Shifter and a spy for Astral’s sake. Why was he drawn to this broken-form, past-unknown, tiny cat of a shifter? He shouldn’t trust her at all with what he doesn’t know about her. Her form was weak, her strength the only thing going for her. She held more secrets in her tail than he did in his whole Other body. Why did he want to roll over and protect her like she was his own?

The only reason he could think of was that in less than a fortnight she had shown more trust and loyalty than he had ever seen in his old life. She didn’t bat an eye when trouble came her way. She just embraced it and made it roll over before her. Her humans were hers and no one would take them from her without killing her first. He had never seen such a bond, even in the most well established packs. There was always infighting for status. Not in this one though. He wanted to know more.

She reminded him of this old crone he once met on a mission in the outskirts of Tenebrae. The old bat wanted nothing to do with leading or taking care of the kits that played in her yard, but the moment some monster, in human form or other, came near and threatened them she was on it, defending her brood. Even the forest monsters knew to stay away from this human female. He had gotten a good hit or two from her ladle when he tried to steal some food from her, then sat down firmly and given enough food to last the remainder of his mission. There might be some fondness left over from their encounter, but he would never admit that.

He felt a poke to his forehead bringing him out of his thoughts. “Hey. You’re thinking too hard. I can see steam.” He stared at the body attached to the fingers. It was Destiny, the one member of this rag tag pack he didn’t quite get.

“Yeah? Don’t get worried until it’s Black. That’s when the little mush I have in there is burning.” He grinned up at her. After a second he let it fade. “Are you going to stay? I know Genesis said you were, but that’s not the same as you saying it out loud.”

She made a thoughtful noise giving his question a momentary thought, then nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be staying. Gen wasn’t kidding when he said it was a nightmare back home. This place is a paradise in comparison. The humans aren’t so bad either, even if the older ones are a bit ruff around the edges. Alpha seems like a good one too. Takes care of her pack like it’s her last lifeline. Gen is an Alpha himself both physically and socially, but he can’t hold a candle to her ferocity so far. I’m not one, and I feel safe for the first time in a long time. I don’t feel the need to run or stay Changed to defend myself. You don’t find that often, do you?”

“Not in this day and age, no. Thanks for telling me. Didn’t know if I was the only one who felt that way or if I wasn’t following my instincts correctly.”

She sat down next to him and grinned “You can thank me by waking me in an hour. Your Alphaness can keep watch for me.” And with only a smirk on her face at his stunned look, she lay down completely and fell asleep instantly.

The bird was more insightful than she looked. Bunch of crazy, special misfits here.  _ We might make a good pack after all. _ He kept watch for her even though there was nothing to watch for and woke her after an hour and a half. He let her sleep for the extra 30 minutes just out of spite. She didn’t bite him too hard for that.


	14. The Choice of Justice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's shopping day! Finally they all have a chance to make their mark in the Prince's suite. Choices are made, both good and bad. And Nyx has dramatic timing, like usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Timeline (because I'm actually trying to stay coherent here) - This is day 12-13

“What’s on your mind?”

For three nights in a row Lilly has watched Justice pacing the length of the living room end to end. He never said anything. Just walked back and forth, staring down the hallways towards the human’s rooms and the shifter’s rooms when he got closer. She watched him from various perches, though he never gave any indication that he noticed her. He didn’t try to go down the human’s hallways either so she let him be

He just looked at her, then back down the hall, then started pacing again. She could wait for him to talk. She had nothing but time.

On his fifth pass he finally spoke, “Why?” It sounded more like a rhetorical question than an actual one so she waited patiently for him to clarify. He glared up at her. “Why? Why are they so different? Why aren’t they like all the other humans I’ve ever been around? I can’t figure it out no matter how I look at it.”

_ Ah, the big Why. _ “Because you’re human and they see that.” She held up a hand to forestall any protests. “Yes you’re a shifter but you are just as bright and emotional as every one of them. They see that and want to give you the dignity you deserve. You’re just a human with a few extra tricks up your sleeve.”

“But I’m not. We’re not. We aren’t human.” He trailed off.

“You can think, speak, and react right? You feel emotions and can choose to hide them or not. You think and react to situations and make choices not based solely upon instincts, correct?

“Well sure, but.”

“You’re human then. Just like them. If you’re thinking you’re not just because you can do something special, then the guys aren’t human either. Noct gets his powers from the blue floating rock behind me and in turn grants the other three the ability to use magic as well. Would you call them not human because of that?”

“Well no, but.”

“So being able to do something no one else can with powers you never asked for means you’re still normal? You’re not a monster or animal because of it?”

“When you put it that way…”

“I know you never wanted to be a shifter. Your actions scream it every chance it gets. It’s not a bad thing, but it is who you are. You’re a human  with a special gift and the guys understand that. Yes they can’t Change into another form but they know what it’s like to be different and singled out because of it. They don’t care that you Change into a giant snake. They care that you’re a person put into an Astral’s forsaken situation and they want to make the most of it even if you don’t want to let them. They’re good kids and so are you. Just think about it.”

He fell silent, all protests dying on his lips. He nodded slowly and went back to pacing the length of the room.

She settled down to watch him, ready to answer anything if he asked. It was a long night punctuated only by the sounds of his footsteps. 

The next morning it was finally the weekend. No meetings to go to and no council to dodge. So far they had stayed away from the new shifters, but it was only a matter of time before they showed their claws.

As for her rag-tag pack, it was finally time to go and customize their rooms and wardrobes! That meant shopping, which meant the mall, and maybe the outdoor markets. Lilly loved the markets. There were so many smells and people to watch, and sometimes she could talk snacks out of the humans. Ignis always needed new recipes right?

Insomnia Mall was huge. Six floors of controlled chaos that the Glaives and Guards never had fun guarding them from. Lilly didn’t really care though, she would protect her moonshine as much as his shield did. Their main goal was the wing of furniture stores on the third floor and they went right for it. Lilly bounced along, happily free of the stuffy Citadel and led the way through the crowds. None of the pets were leashed so they got quite a few odd looks, but they weren’t bothered. Gladio and Mara looked intimidating enough for the lot of them.

She kept up a stream of chatter, asking the shifters what they liked or what they were interested in clothes wise. She didn’t care that they were in public and that pets were supposed to be seen and not heard. Her Master kept an amused eye on her but didn’t stop her once, and he was the only one who could control her in their group.

One or two brave people came up and asked for pictures, which the Prince gave the all clear for. They were taken and the humans left bright red and twittering happily that they got the pictures.

Lilly elbowed Noct gently in the ribs grinning at him. “Still making all the girls blush, huh?”

He turned bright red and pushed her ahead of him, telling her to get moving. She laughed and took off again.

There were a few discontented shouts at the group which were ignored, but for the most part they were left alone.

They finally made it to their destination and started browsing. The four shifters had such different tastes that it was a good thing that there was a store for every kind of style imaginable.

Genesis favored a high class, sophisticated style. All curvy lines and expensive looking materials. He leaned towards black and whites with fancy designs to draw the eye.

Mara went for function over form and everything he liked was simple and straightforward. No fancy embellishments or designs. They did talk him into some patterned sheets though, so his room would have some personality to it.

Destiny was drawn to deep colored woods and stains. Mahogany and oaks were her favorites. Her headboard would be only topped by Noct’s in its complexity of design. It made everyone stare in a small bit of envy of it. Deeps reds and blues would be adorning her furniture.

Justice also favored woods but he turned towards the forest greens for his color of choice. He mentioned he liked one of the four poster beds but with green drapes around it and Ignis had it ordered before the shifter could even try to say no.

Price was no object for the Prince and they all wanted the shifters to feel like they had their own spaces so no expense was spared if they showed any interest in anything in the stores. From frames on the walls to sheets on the beds, everything was going to show up at the suite within the next few days whether the shifters said yes to them or not.

By the time they left the wing of the mall they had four complete rooms ordered and everyone needed refueling. Their presence in the mall spread like wildfire and every storefront now had at least one person ready at the doors in case the Prince or his retainers decided to browse. The employees knew from previous visits to not only be on the lookout for the Prince though. He didn’t like them neglecting their current customers or he would skip their store entirely.

They each grabbed something from the food court and found a large table to seat all nine of them. The humans joked and prodded each other ignoring the eyes on them. The shifters tried but couldn’t relax very well, except for Genesis. They weren’t used to the attention.

“How do you do it? Not run with all these eyes on you?” Justice asked Lilly who had just started on her fries.

“You either get used to it or you don’t.” She shrugged waving a fry at him. “I know none of them can hurt me so I don’t pay them any mind. It’s annoying some days, but hey, could be worse. Could be the Prince. I don’t know how he does it to be honest.”

Finishing up their meals they formed a game plan for the next part of their trip. Clothes! They decided to split up to cover more ground. Noct and Gladio together went one way and Ignis and Prompto went another way. They agreed to meet up in two hours then decide what to do after that.

Genesis and Mara had vastly different ideas of what they liked and disliked but they all had fun playing dress up for Lilly whenever she brought them stuff to try on. She couldn’t get enough of all the colors and styles and fabrics and the freedom to choose her own things to wear. Usually pets only had one style of dress, harem pants and shirts, lots of skin showing to show off their figures and body types. They were novelty creatures to most humans after all. It did help that usually pets were very well built because of their metabolisms, but they were always forced into the same thing every day. With Noctis though, she got to choose what she wore each day unless it was formal dress and that was powerful and fun.

Genesis stuck to more high end clothing with a hint of to much leather. He said he liked the way it smelled as his reason. Slacks and silks were his cloth of choice, but caved when Lilly said he looked amazing in this one pair of jeans and a button up shirt. Noct was going to rib him about that one for a while.

Mara once again chose function over fashion and would’ve been fine with anything at all, except Lilly wouldn’t take no for an answer. She kept bringing him colors that she thought brought out the colors of his eyes and designs that even he had to admit looked good.

The two human males knew to stand back and let her have her fun. They were glad they weren’t the focus of her attention in this for once. It was fun watching her work. She took into account her victim’s choice of styles and then worked with them to get the best look possible for them. And then there was the outrageous styles just because she wanted to see them in certain things. 

She may have snuck in a few shirts she thought Noct would look good in and that she would steal later after he wore them a few times. It was a Lilly thing.

Noct made sure all the choices would be delivered to the Citadel before the end of the day and they left the store in high spirits. They met up with the others after the two hours had passed and they all decided to go to the open air markets to relax after that long successful day.

_ Yay food! _ Lilly could barely contain her excitement. Today was turning out to be an amazing day. She tried to not hurry everyone out of the mall but it was a close thing. She couldn’t contain herself when they got to the entrance of the markets though. She dashed off to the first stalls she could reach staring at everything. There were so many things to look at. Homemade crafts, metal work, wood work, foods, spices. You name it, it’s probably there. The smells though. That’s what drew her every which way. She may not want to eat all of it, but the smells were so inviting. Galahd, Tenebrae, Insomnia. All of Eos were here somewhere she just had to find it.

Despite having the Guard and Glaive following them, the nine made their way casually through the afternoon crowds. The amount of people was slowly growing as people got off work and wanted to have casual walking diners. She talked Noctis out of a few skewers that she shared with everyone. Genesis tried to get a bite off of her skewer even though he had his own. She bopped him on the nose in retaliation.

At one point the crowd grew so thick that Genesis had to grab onto her so she didn’t get separated from everyone. Being the strongest shifter in their group meant nothing when she was the smallest in the group as well. It took almost five minutes to find everyone again even with two sets of eyes searching.

The problem was, once they found the others, two of them were missing. Prompto and Destiny weren’t there.

“We got separated in the crowd and lost sight of them. They were right over there.” Ignis said, pointing to a stall near them.

Even with his height, Justice couldn’t catch sight of them either.

They spread out and searched the stalls around trying to find them. Genesis got their attention and moved off to the side of one of the stalls in an alleyway. He held up a large golden feather. “This is one of Destiny’s feathers. Remember that trick she did at the hospital? She would not leave these around unless there was a problem and she had to move fast.”

“You sure about this?” Noct asked.

“I am sure. She would do this trick all the time when we were kids. I know her feathers like the back of my hand.” He handed the feather over to the Prince. “She’s in trouble, I am sure of it.”

Lilly started to see red. Something happened to her sunshine and her chocobo? She couldn’t let that stand. “I’ll find them. You go home and I’ll bring them back.”

Noct took a good hard look at her. “We won’t be able to stop you will we?” At the shake of her head, Noct brought out his control and pointed it at her. All the shifters around Lilly flinched, worried she was about to be disciplined. She didn’t worry in the least. He’s never hurt her and won’t start now.

With a sigh he stated, “Fine. Just don’t get caught.” He pressed the button and the collar fell off. She caught it and handed it over to the Prince.

“I never am.” She said with a smirk and started walking out the alley when Justice and Mara called after her to let them go with her.

“I can help sneak into places if needed. A snake knows the secret ways that most can’t always see.”

“Alpha, I can sniff them out better than a cat can. I was a tracker in my unit and never failed. Give me something of theirs and I’ll find them. We won’t fail you.”

“We could get in major trouble. You sure you can get around without getting caught?” She took a good hard look at both of them. They both nodded and she looked at their humans.

They both sighed as well and brought out their controls. With a “You better get them back” they pressed the main buttons and the collars of the two shifters fell off of their necks. They couldn't quite believe it was true that their collars were off, but they wouldn't let their Alpha down. She was letting them help find one of the most important people to her. They refused to fail.

“Genesis you stay with them. Keep our Master safe. I want no outsiders getting anywhere near him. Go full cat if you have to. He better be in one, unbruised piece when I get back to the Citadel.” She barked out the orders with no regard for what the humans may have wanted to do. She didn’t care what they wanted at this moment to be honest. She wanted her sunshine back and she was not letting her moonshine chance at being hurt at all.

“Understood Alpha. He will be as pristine as the moment you left him” He held up one finger on each hand in front of his face. All of a sudden blue electricity sparked between the finger tips in a steady stream. “No one touches him.”

_ Ooooo Electric. Nice. _ “Good. We will be back as soon as we find them. Let’s go.” 

****

Three hours later they found themselves in the warehouse district below Little Galahd. Mara had led them unerringly forward. And they had found several more feathers but no sign of the bird shifter herself. There were several guys with swords and guns around a few select cargo bins and a single building that peaked their interest though.  _ What could be so important that they need those little toys to protect it? _

Lilly wanted to go straight for them, taking the guards out one by one but the other two held her back. “Let me go up and over. They won’t hear me or catch me.” Justice hissed to her. He didn’t wait for any acknowledgement and Changed quickly sliding up the side of the building they were crouched behind.  _ Huh. He really can climb walls. Neat. _

As the shifter’s tail disappeared over the lip of the roof Mara motioned for her to get closer to the corner of the building. “I smell something familiar. Chocobo and something that I think is Prompto. They’re here but the wind keeps shifting so I can’t pin their location down. We wait until he gets back to make our next move.”

She desperately didn't want to wait, but knee he’s more than likely right. Nothing good could come of those guns pointing in their direction. It’s an agonizingly long thirty minutes before the lamia came back down from the rooftops.

“I found a way in. Climb on and I’ll take you there. I warn you, it doesn’t look good.” He hissed out in that half snake voice he has in full lamia form.He held out his hands to help the others onto his tail.

“What do you mean? What did you see?” Lilly asked worriedly as she climbed up and settled into position.

“They are both in there. The human is hurt but he is awake. She isn’t conscious and looks hurt as well. She is breathing. I could see her chest moving.” He hissed when pinpricks pierced his tail and looked back. She had dug her half shifted claws into his scales at his words.

“They will pay.” She growled out quietly in pure rage. “Get me in there. Now.”

He started moving, sliding back up to the rooftops and over the shipping crates with the stealth only a serpent could muster. The other shifters holding onto him tightly. None of the humans saw the forty foot snake sliding along above their heads.  _ Seriously. No one ever looks up. They’ll pay for that oversight. _

Justice stopped on the roof of the little building in the center of the area and silently pointed out an AC air vent. “It’s broken and the fan isn’t running. We can get in this way.” He let the two off his tail and then Changed back into human form. He quietly removed the grate covering the vent and motioned for them to follow him.

Mara stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Wait, Justice. Let me go first. You’re tough but not quite Behemoth tough. If they shoot, I’ll be able to take a few hits before going down. That’ll give everyone time to get away if needed.” The younger shifter nodded and let Mara pass him.

Lilly entered the vent last, fighting her restlessness the entire time. When Justice held a hand out to stop her progress she was knocked out of her thoughts about her sunshine and chocobo girl. The men had stopped and Mara was looking down through another vent watching the humans patrolling the room.

They were right over the two they were looking for but a few humans were in the room pointing their weapons at them. As Justice said, her sunshine looked like he was hurt. He was cradling one arm close to himself and staying in front of the female shifter. She was laying on the floor, eyes closed but breathing steady. She was probably out by the collar and not by a physical blow. That at least could be remedied easily. They just needed to get down there to help them.

She looked to her left and right and saw two offshoots of the vent that they were in. She tapped Justice’s shoulder and motioned to go down one of the shoots. When he nodded and moved she did the same to Mara in the other direction. He nodded and went off as well. They both found grates near the edge of the room and motioned that there were humans below them. On Lilly’s count they smashed them open and dropped below.

Her human was a large man with an even larger gun, but just like every pure human she’s encountered, he went down hard with a quick full powered blow to the back of the head.  _ That gun is to big to be used on just a human _ . She looked around and saw the other two take down their humans almost as fast. Mara was quick and efficient. Justice looked like he had a bit of trouble but his human didn’t get out a word of warning to anyone outside.

“Lilly? Is that you?” Came the hesitant call from her sunshine. “What are you doing here? Where’s Noct? Is he ok?” She wiped the blood from her target that was on her hand off onto her pants and went over to check her human. “It’s just a broken wrist. They were trying to hurt Destiny. I couldn’t let them do that.”

“You did good Sunshine. We’ll get you both out of here. Is she hurt at all? Or was it just the collar?”

“The collar. I didn’t let them touch her.” He glanced back at the unconscious shifter, worried.

“OK. I can do something about that. They usually wake up right after the current is shut off.” She shuffled over to the shifter, not touching her quite yet. She could feel the current running through the collar  _ That’s set on high. Might take her a bit to wake up after I break it. _

“How’re you going to shut it off? It’s on high and they took the control with them.”

“You just leave that to me. Guys, do we have company? Or are we good for a while?” She called over quietly to the two shifters.

Mara answered, “Looks good for now but I wouldn’t risk much more. Do what you need to and let’s get out of here.”

“Good. Don’t tell anyone what you’re about to see.” She reached down and gripped the control collar in both hands, wincing at the current. She quickly pulled with all her strength and the collar ripped apart in two large chunks. The current died as soon as the connection was broken and turned into just two hunks of metal. She dropped them and checked Destiny’s pulse, making sure it was still steady. The bird shifter seemed well enough but it might be a while still before she woke up. That current had bit hard. She looked over to her sunshine, “Can you move? We can try to get you two out over the rooftops like we got in.”

He nodded and looked up. “There’s a window up there if someone can reach it. We wouldn’t have to crawl and drag her until she wakes up.”

“Justice? Can you get that window open and everyone out? You’re the only one with hands and can carry her.”

“It looks close enough. It should have a latch on it to open it easily. Let me check it.” He Changed into his Lamia form for the second time that day and raised up as far as he could go. “Yes. I got it.” He hissed back down at them. “If you can grab onto my tail I can lift everyone up and out easily.”

“Do it. Mara, you take Destiny. I got Prompto. Let’s move.” The shifter came over and lifted the woman gently in one arm and used some modified claws to grip the tail. Lilly grabbed Prompto and did the same. They were lifted up slowly and steadily. By the time they reached the window Justice had enough length through it so he could turn around and help them out individually.

Lilly checked everyone for wounds again and then barked orders to them. “Mara get them home. All of them. Justice you’re carrying Destiny until she wakes up. If you get stopped make up a cover story. You all don’t have collars on, so everyone will just think you’re humans.”

“You sound like you’re not coming with us.” Prompto bit out around a wince of pain from his wrist.

“I have some unfinished business to take care of. I’ll be home soon. Don’t worry. I’m already under orders to not get caught. Now Go!” She jumped back down through the window before anyone could stop her. Landing softly she Changed into her feline form and started stalking through the open doors and hallways. No one was getting out of this if she had her way. The last thing she heard before going through a doorway was a soft “Let her go. We can’t stop her.”

The problem with being in feline form is that you can’t speak to your targets to get information. They tended to just run screaming about rogue shifters, if they lived. She had taken out a dozen men in various states of anger but still hadn’t found the one who looked like they ordered her sunshine and chocobo girl taken and hurt. She was running out of targets and getting angrier by the minute.

The last building on the property had two armed guards in the front of the building. So far she’d only taken on solo humans. _This looks promising_. _Who’s behind door number three?_ _No real way to take out both guards at the same time. I’ll need hands for this._

There was a large open gap between where she was hiding, crouched behind a shipping container, and the door she wanted to go in. She Changed back and for once was actually grateful about being so small in human form as it made sneaking closer without being spotted easier.  _ Stupid humans and their guns. Always making life difficult. Fine, on three. One, Two. _ On  _ Three _ she ran at a dead sprint towards the closest guard. The man had just enough time to start a shout in warning before she could cut off his breathing with a jab to the throat. His partner turned and she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder but she didn’t stop moving. She took the second man down in the same manner with a quick punch to the throat.  _ Humans are so squishy. Glad mine aren’t. Now who were you guarding? _

She slipped inside the door cautiously and thankfully there weren’t more guards. The lone man inside behind a desk was glaring at her and demanding to know who she was and how she got in.

“Are you the one who ordered them captured?” She stomped up to the desk, demanding answers of her own. “Why?”

At his confused look she clarified. “The blonde human male and the female shifter. Were you the one who ordered them captured? Why?”

“The shifter was familiar and I knew I could sell her for a lot of money. The blonde was just collateral.”

The man did not look nearly terrified enough of the angry feline in human form, but she’d remedy that. She lifted his desk and threw it against a wall with one hand, just because. “Thought so. Anyone above you?”

“What? How? You’re human. No Collar.” He was stamering and not answering her very simple question. 

She narrowed her eyes at him and took another step closer. “Is there anyone above you or are you the boss?” She reached out a hand to grab onto him and felt a punch to her leg. She glanced down and saw a smoking pistol in one of his hands. “You shot me? Wrong move.”

_ I was probably not going to get answers out of this coward anyway. Man that hurts. Why do they always shoot me? _ She'd never liked being shot or shot at. The trip outside the room took a lot longer than it should have. All the adrenaline from every fight was wearing off and her leg was starting to hurt like a witch. Her upper chest and shoulder was hurting as well and when she looked she saw another bleeding hole in her clothing.  _ That one guy must've shot me as well. This is going to be a long trek back home. _

She staggered as she wandered across the open area around the building and hit the ground on all fours.  _ Gonna make Master make me some spelled armor. This hurts.  _ She tried to get her feet under her to stand up again but couldn't get her leg to work right. She sat back down on the ground to stare at her leg for a moment.

A noise to her side caught her attention and she glanced to the side. Sure she could probably move if she needed to, but she didn't  _ want _ to. What was standing next to her made her frown slightly. “You're late.”

Nyx grinned at her sheepishly. “You move faster than we thought? Sorry, but we're here now. Anyone left alive?”

She shook her head and held out her good arm. “Not that I'm aware of. Help me up. I wanna go home.”

“Let's get you cleaned up before we get to the citadel. You're a bit bloody there and the Prince will appreciate his kitten at least looking like she's in one piece.” He lifted her up in his arms not letting her put weight on her leg and keeping her shoulder supported. “Still as light as ever. You take a nap. I'll get you home.”

She bit his shoulder lightly for his trouble but settled down. Leaning her head against him she let him carry her back home.

They got her all cleaned up and bandaged in the guard rest house. That's where her Master and the others found her. He had warped past his guards when he heard she was on the property and rushed to see her.

The male burst into the room while she was still half naked and getting wrapped up. It was rare to see him turn that red and stammer that hard as he realized what state of dress she was in. It was really quite cute in her opinion. Crowe moved fast enough and dropped a towel over the shifter's shoulders to cover everything before the others came in barreling over the Prince into the room.

“Those guys love you so much. Stop worrying them.” Crowe whispered into her ear before walking out the room with a wave.

A chorus of “Lilly!” Came from everyone in the group and they swarmed over her pushing the blushing male out of their way. The only one who didn’t rush over to her was the chocobo shifter. She nervously stood next to the door they came in.

“OK OK guys. Enough. I’m alive, I’m fine. Give me some room you goofs.” She pushed at them all gently until they backed up.

“You’re not fine. You’re bandaged! Why are you bandaged? What happened?” Prompto was the one to ask. “I last saw you perfectly fine and jumping back down into that building. Why?”

She motioned at the cast on his arm. “They hurt you. They hurt her.” She motioned to Destiny, still by the door. “I wasn’t going to let them get away with it. I found out they were going to sell her and you were just colateral. No one does that on my watch if I can help it.”

“You’re dodging the question Lilly. Why are you hurt and what happened?” Her Master finally put his foot down on her not answering.

She sighed “I got shot twice. Once in the shoulder and then the boss got me in the leg before I realized it. When I got out of the building Nyx had finally shown up and took care of everything else. He brought me home.”

Justice had come up behind her and with a sharp order of “Arms up” he slipped a button up shirt over her bare torso. He walked around her and buttoned up the front, being very careful of the wound on her chest. “You are insane. Never do that again Alpha.” She started to protest the title but he put a finger on her mouth silencing her. “Deny it all you want, Alpha, but you are Alpha of this rag-tag little pack. You don’t want everyone worrying about you right? Then don’t go doing crazy stuff like this again. You have us to back you up now.”

“Us?” At her questioning look he glanced over at the bird shifter.

“Destiny told us about how her Master kept them from hurting her. Stayed in front of her even though she’s the stronger of them. He refused to let anything happen to her to the point they had to break his arm before they could get to her and even then he refused to let them take her away. He told us how she had tried to protect him when he was down and they had to use his remote on full to knock her out. He’s a good one, for a normie. I’ll give them all a chance, willingly.” He gave her a grin at the end tapping the collar that was on his neck. He got up and backed away letting the others close in on her again.

Noctis came in close, finally over his embarrassment. “You do that again and you’ll be in trouble. You hear me? I forgot your collar in my room so you’ll have to wait to get it back on.”

She grinned at him and raised her left wrist slightly. Not to much or it would pull her chest and shoulder, but enough to show off the bracelet on her wrist. “I already have it on, Master. I’ll be patient for the other one though. Can’t have the council have kittens now can we?”

“You’re a snit.” He ruffled her hair and stood up. “Let’s go back home.”

Genesis picked her up and carried her all the way back to the suite. No one was going to let her up and on her feet for a week if they had their way about it. Their kitten was just a bit to fragile at the moment for any of their liking. The male shifter deposited her onto the couch and sat down on the floor next to her. He wasn’t going to let her up anytime soon that day. He knew their Master and the others would be in agreement with his decision. Justice kept bringing her things and getting everything she wanted, even some things she didn’t want.

“You guys have got to let me up sometime!” she said about six hours later. Genesis was still below her on the floor and had a book he was reading.

Everyone who heard her chorused an emphatic “No. We don’t!” Justice just brought her another plate of snacks. Family stunk some days. She wouldn’t change it for the world.


	15. Lil'Heat - SFW

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heats are annoying. Once a year for normal Shifters. Once every 5-7 years for Lilly. With all the excitement going on, Lilly forgot her heat is coming up. How will she deal with it in a room full of Strong personalities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will add the link to the NSFW parts of this arc to the end notes when I finish them. Until then - Enjoy the first part of Lilly et all figuring out her first heat in five years.

“Lilly. Are you alright?” Genesis had come up from behind her and asked quietly.

“Yes. I’m fine. Will you stop asking? The bullet wounds closed days ago.” Lilly snapped at him.

He held up his hands in surrender. “Hey, hey. I am not worried about your wounds. I am asking because you have been on edge more lately and you smell different.”

“I smell? That’s real nice to say to a girl, Gen.” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“I don’t mean in a bad way. You smell good. Honestly you smell Omega good.”

“O, Omega?” Her eyes got almost comically wide and she started looking around.

“How long have I been here? No. Not just today. Noct? You just turned twenty one right?” She called across the room to the Prince who was paying more attention to the game in front of him than his pet. The human raised his head and acknowledged her with a nod. “Right. Yeah. Yes everything is fine. I have to go.”

Genesis had never seen her bolt from the room faster than she did just then. Something spooked her and he wasn’t sure what. Asking the Prince didn’t give him any answers to that either.

Noctis found her pacing his bedroom a little later that afternoon. He watched her go back and forth a few times before. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

Lilly startled and turned to face him. She hadn’t noticed he had entered the room. “What? Nothing. Nothing’s wrong.”

“Lilly. What’s wrong?”

She started fidgeting under his stare, trying to look as small as possible. “I might be….” She trailed off mumbling her answer.

“Lilliana. I won’t ask again. What’s wrong?”

She took a deep breath and with her eyes closed answered louder. “I might be going into heat. It’s been so long I didn’t recognize the signs. I’m sorry.”

He walked up to her and pulled her chin away from her chest. “Heat? Isn’t that only a week, and don’t only Omegas go through that?”

She pulled away from his hand not looking him in the eye. “Yeah. What do you think I am? An Alpha or Omega?” She finally looked up after he didn’t answer her for a second, searching his face.

“You’re strong, in charge, commanding. You take care of me, you’re protective, a defender. I’d say you’re an Alpha. But I take it you have a different answer.”

“I’m a forced social Alpha. These guys chose me to be an Alpha and I can’t really change that without failing in some way or someone stronger comes along. But I’m biologically an Omega. I’m forced to go into this Heat state every six years or so. Normal Omegas get it once a year and it lasts one week tops with a week buildup before and week cooldown after. Mine has a three week build up, two weeks full blown, and a two week cool down after. I get needy and whiney and emotional and I can’t stand it. I'm not me."

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I’ll handle it. Just don’t tell anyone? Please.”

“You sure?” At her nod he sighed. “Alright. I’ll leave it up to you. Just come to me if you need any help.” She smiled weakly at him. It was going to be a long month.

*****

Two weeks later she was passing by one of the least used closets in the suite when something caught her eye. All the things she had stashed there over the last week or so had vanished. Where did it all go? It wasn’t much, just a blanket and a few shirts she had borrowed from Noct and Prom, but it was her stash.

“Hey Ignis?” She asked after she had tracked down the only person who would’ve been in that closet. “Where did all the things inside that back closet go?” She shifted nervously, while waiting for an answer.

“Hmm? It was all out of place and wrinkled so I am washing it all and putting it away.” The man watched her, curious as to why she was acting like it was a big deal. It was just his monthly cleaning of all the closets. Nothing special as far as he was aware.

“You  _ what _ ?” She practically yelled. She ran out of the room as fast as she could, muttering  _ no, no, no _ , trying to get to the washing machines. They were running when she got there, in the middle of their wash cycle. She was too late.

Behind her she could hear a conversation drift to her from the other room “Noct. What did I do? Why is Lilly crying in front of the washing machines? I was only doing my usual cleaning.”

The others had all met up in the living room after seeing Lilly sprint by them. Some were more confused than others. Genesis and Destiny were looking thoughtfully after the feline shifter.

“Ignis. Was it a small pile of clothes, blankets and pillows? All in a small corner or a closet?” Genesis asked looking at the human. At Ignis’s nod Genesis made a sound of understanding and Destiny had a slowly growing look of horror on her face. “I think I know why she is so upset. You destroyed her nest.”

Ignis looked completely confused at the shifter. “Nest? It was just a pile of things. It didn’t look like anyone was using it at all.”

"I think she was trying to hide it. She is an Omega, isn't she Noctis?"

The Prince nodded slightly. "She didn't want me to say anything. Is this why she's so upset right now?"

Genesis nodded and handed out each person’s marching orders. “Alright. Damage control time then. Noctis, take Prompto and Mara and a few of your shirts. Go work up a slight sweat. You will want your scent on everything. Don’t ask, I will explain everything later, just go. Justice, go gather all of the loose blankets and pillows you can and bring them here. You will take them to her new nest spot, as soon as she calms down and chooses one. Ignis, go make her favorites as an apology. Do not argue just do it. Destiny, come with me. We are going to try and sooth her.”

Lilly was still staring worriedly at the washing machines, when the two shifters entered into the small room. “Hey Lilly. What’s got you so upset? Did Ignis mess up your nest?” Genesis asked quietly.

She glanced at him in confusion then back down at the machines. “Nest? I don’t have a nest. I don’t know why I’m so upset. Was it a nest?” She trailed off with her last question, asking it more to herself than anyone else.

Destiny approached slowly trying to draw Lilly’s attention from the machine. “Lilly. You’re an Omega, right? Have you never had a nest before?” She asked as gently as possible to the stressed shifter.

Lilly was distracted for a split second and looked into Destiny’s eyes. “Omega? Yes. No, I’ve never had a nest before. It was never safe on the farm or in the wilds.” She looked back at the machine almost glaring at it then back at Destiny. “Is that was this is? Why I’m so out of it right now?”

“Oh sweetie. Yes, that was your first nest and that human just destroyed it without knowing how important it was to you.” Destiny wrapped Lilly up in a tight hug. The poor shifter didn’t know what to do and finally just broke down crying. “It’s OK sweetie. Let it out. We will help you make a new nest and everyone will leave it alone unless you want them to visit."

It took her a short while but Lilly finally calmed down enough to stop crying into Destiny’s shoulder. Genesis took the opportunity to ask her, “Hey Lilly. Do you want a new nest? We have better materials for you. Where do you want to make it?”

Lilly looked over at him and mumbled, “I can’t make one. They’ll use it against me.” She looked so small and lost. She was lost in a memory from her past and he didn’t want her to still be there even if it was only in her head.

“No one will ever touch your nest again. We will make sure of it. Did you want it in Noctis’s room? Prompto’s room? My room?” At the mention of each person’s room he watched for a reaction. She didn’t react to Noctis’s or Prompto’s room, but she gave a tiny nod when he mentioned his own room. He smiled. “Alright. My room it is. Let’s get you in there so you can make it the way you want. Up you go.” He lifted her into his arms and slowly walked out into the other room. She made a massive effort to hide how pleased she was that he could lift her without any effort.

The others had all returned from their tasks while the three shifters were in the laundry room steadying themselves. As soon as Genesis emerged with Lilly in his arms, they were surrounded with questions. Lilly squeaked and hid her face in his shoulder away from everyone. “Hey. Everyone. Back off!” Genesis barked, getting them to take a step back. “Can you not see you are all scaring her?! Give her a bit before you pounce her. It’s ok Lilly. You’ve done nothing wrong.” She had started repeating ‘I’m sorry’ into his shoulder. ”They just want to make sure you are alright. They will mind their manners now. Let us get you to your nesting place.”

He sent all of the others ahead of him to his room to drop off the supplies. When they arrived Justice had already started setting things up based on how an Omega would look at the room. There were piles of blankets and pillows and the shirts of her favorite males were in the room as well.

“Lilly, look. Lots of materials to make a nest out of. You want help getting started?”

Lilly looked around the room in confusion then up at the male holding her. “I’m allowed?” She sounded so unsure he had to hold her tighter.

“Yes, you are allowed and encouraged to do so. Do whatever you want to, dear. The room is yours.” He reluctantly allowed her feet to touch the ground but didn’t let go just yet.

“I’m allowed to? How do I even start? I’ve never...” She trailed off and that’s when Destiny and Justice pushed their way in between her and Genesis.

“That’s where we come in. All males out. Omegas and girls only!” Destiny bodily banished all the others from the room and slammed the door on their protests. She turned towards Lilly and rubbed her hands together. “Now let’s make you the best heat nest you will ever have.”

Despite how evil Destiny looked at the beginning, she was extremely patient with every step Lilly took to make the room perfect. Justice was so encouraging to her as well, taking the time to explain why she felt the way she did and helped get her past her fears of making the nest at all. It took almost thirty minutes before she was even willing to try and start, but they got her past that.

She started slow, answering their yes or no questions about what she liked and disliked. They tossed all the ones she didn’t like out the door, half the time into one of the other men’s faces while they tried to get a peek at the room.

For a bunch of Alphas they didn’t take Omega nesting without them very well. Genesis in particular kept trying to open the door and either Destiny or Justice had to keep shutting it on his nose. After a while Justice gave up and just stood glaring at the door jam for a while waiting for it to open. It did and the Alpha got a face full of angry Omega. He didn’t open it again after that.

Ignis was the only one brave enough to open the door and only because he had food as a peace offering. Destiny answered the door that time and opened it the bare minimum she could. She didn’t let him get a look. She refused to let him enter or speak to Lilly. She just took the food and closed the door again. If she had her way Ignis wouldn’t even be in the building after destroying Lilly’s first nest, even if he didn’t realize what he did.

Lilly felt much more in control after each passing moment in the room. The more her nest came together the calmer she felt. Near the end she felt herself again. A few final touches and the only thing missing was her in it. All her unease had left her and she felt she could face the others again, rationally.

Hours later they emerged from the room looking tired but happy. The guys held off swarming her to ask questions, but only just barely. Genesis had stood up from his spot on the couch but didn’t move closer to her. Justice had made his point earlier.

Lilly stretched big while walking into the room. Mid stretch she waved at the guys. “Hey. You all stuck around! Sorry about that.” She let her arms fall and gave them a big smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t have enough control to not freak out like that. Usually you’d not even know I had started my heat.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about.” Noct pipped up. “Apparently you didn’t have any chance to not get overwhelmed. Hear me out. Mara and Genesis theorize that with you in close proximity to so many guys, it sent your heat hormones into overdrive. And with the nest accidentally being destroyed, it just set everything off.”

“So it is your fault.” She narrowed her eyes slightly at them but didn’t lose the grin. “Thought so. We all talked about it while I was rearranging the room for the fifteenth time. Oh well. I’ll figure it out. Now that I know what to look for, I don’t think hormones will be an issue anymore. You touch my nest without permission though and you’ll need a good regen spell.” Her grin changed to that of a hunter warding off other hunters. They all put up their hands in surrender. They did not want to deal with an angry Lilly.

She meandered off to the kitchen to scrounge for something to munch on, passing Ignis on the way. He stopped her for half a second to apologise to her which she waved off. It’s not like any of the humans had experienced her pre-heat at all. If she didn’t know it was a nest, then he certainly wouldn’t. She also waved off the glaring shifters behind him. She could fight her own battles now that she was back on her feet.

“Ok. You all have questions. I may have answers. What is on your minds? No holds bar.” She flopped down on the couch after grabbing some finger foods from the fridge.

All the others sat down around her in their various spots. Lilly grabbed Genesis's hand and pulled him down next to her, before he could get further away. She curled up against his side, his arms reflexively wrapping around her, and tucked her legs under herself. "Hmm. You smell good." she said quietly.

The shifter grinned at her. "So I guess the first question is what should we all expect? Noct told us that your heats are longer than normal but couldn't tell us much more."

"Well normal heats last about one week with a week’s warm up and cool down on either side as you know. Or should know if you paid any attention to the info packets the farms hand out regularly. Mine last about seven weeks total. A three week warmup, two weeks for the actual heat, and two weeks for the cool down. Since we are already almost done with my warmup. I'd say about four, four and a half weeks until I'm completely back to my usual self."

"We've never seen you go into heat before. Why not?" It was Noct that asked that one. He had sat down by her feet so she nudged him with one, silently asking for a foot rub.

"Typically they're an annual thing. Once again I'm not normal. Mine are every five to seven years in between each heat cycle. I had just finished mine the year your father found me on the farm and gave me to you. I've been here five years so I'm right on schedule for year six. As I said I can usually hide it when I have it so if the new shifters hadn't been here, you honestly probably wouldn't ever have seen me be anything but slightly more stressed than usual." She poked Genesis's chest in emphasis.

"What do you plan on doing for a partner, or partners?" Mara looked at her thoughtfully. He wasn't evaluating her like some Alphas had in the past, but only because she thought his protective instincts had flared more than possessive ones.

"Usually I would do nothing. I don't have to have partners and usually don't even want them." She could feel a slight droop in demeanor of the Alphas around her at that. Internally she rolled her eyes,  _ Alphas _ . "But I have been told repeatedly today, to allow my Omega to be an Omega for once and do what it wants. I don't know exactly how to do that so it will probably be me making a fool of myself during all this. No promises on anything and I refuse to be forced to do anything at any time.”

Mara’s demeanor changed completely when she said that last sentence. She looked at him as he changed from contemplative to pure Alpha protector. He looked angry that she even suggested it but it wasn’t aimed at her. She reached behind her and threw a pillow at him, knocking him out of his mood by surprise. “Hey. None of that. As I told you all when you first got here. You do anything I don’t like, I remove the offending appendage. I don’t need anyone protecting me.”

He looked at her sharply. “You sure you will be able to? Your reaction earlier today wasn’t exactly controlled.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Try it and see. Only reason I reacted like that was because I had never felt that before. Desire I have. If you want proof, I’ll spend my entire heat in this room, just to prove I can.” She wouldn’t like it, but she would do it just because someone challenged her.

He stared at her a moment longer searching for something. He must’ve found it because he bowed to her slightly then got up and left the room. The humans gave him puzzled glances and Gladio made to follow him. Destiny put an arm and stopped him. “He’s fighting his own emotions right now. Not easy to have an Omega in heat and other Alphas around at the same time. He’ll be alright.”

Prompto raised his hand tentatively "Which of you are Alphas and Omegas? And do we need to separate everyone for the next month?"

Lilly smiled at him. "Justice and I are biologically Omegas, which means we can have kits. Genesis and Mara are biologically Alphas, the sires. I have no clue what Destiny is, but I think she is also not setting off any instinct bells so she's a purebred neutral. Care to comment?" She looked over at the other female shifter and only smiled at her, saying nothing. "Yeah thought so."

"Wait. You can have kids?" Prompto practically yelled at Justice. "I thought that was just a rumor!"

Genesis tightened his arms around Lilly defensively at Prompto's outburst.

From his spot, cross-legged on the floor, Justice ducked his head, turning bright red. "It's not really advertised."

"It is nothing to be embarrassed about. It is a lot harder for male Omega to have children so it is very rare. I have heard that Omega males can only have children with Alphas, though. I have not met an Omega male with children so I am not entirely sure if it's true or not." Genesis wrapped his arms tighter around Lilly. "It's just biology."

"Ok. Enough picking on us. Grill him for male Omega answers later. I wanna watch a movie and snuggle. Where's the blankets and the popcorn? Mr. Tech Master, set up the theater set?" She squirmed in the arms holding her, getting settled further. Prompto laughed and got up to go put together the screen and close the windows to the crystal's light.

*****

The next morning Lilly emerged from her nest in Genesis's room. She had gone to bed alone and woke early, too stressed to sleep late. Genesis was asleep on the couch and Ignis was in the kitchen fussing over breakfast. She walked over and sat down at the island to watch Ignis work.

"Hey Ignis?" She asked tentatively. "Could you help me set up an appointment with the shifter vet-doctor? I'm not on anything and if this heat gets as strong as my first reaction then I'll need to see if there's any birth control I can even be on. I don't want kits yet. I'm not ready for them. Can you help me?"   


The human had turned to her when she first started talking and watched her while she finished. She glanced up through her hair, embarrassed that she even had to ask. She couldn't make any appointments with a normal doctor, only a human could. Normally she wouldn't need any appointments, she would only catch the occasional cold, from Ignis ironically.

He looked at her steadily "I can save you some time on that. I looked up your records as soon as I found out it was a heat you were starting and talked to the doctor. They said the blood results from your checkups indicate that no hormones would work as a birth control. They would be willing to try some things, but nothing indicates that it would be effective, especially this close to a full blown heat." She deflated at each revelation, shoulders drooping lower and lower. "I would be willing to get a second opinion for you, but it might take a few days."

She shook her head smiled at him, "No. You've done more than I could've asked for already. Thank you for doing that. I'll figure it out. Maybe they could help me look for next time."

"I'll get them started right away then. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask." He slid a pile of pancakes onto a plate in front of her. "Let's start with what we know and go from there. Do you need anything in particular for this?"

She brightened at the pancakes and started to dig in. "Nothing that I know of that a human could do for me. I can probably stay in control the whole time. It seems so much harder this time though." She frowned at the food on her fork. "I'm not sure why."

A pair of arms slid around her from behind and the person nuzzled into her neck nosing right below her ear. "It is because you have three Alphas in close proximity to you." Genesis mumbled into her ear. She gasped and shivered as a jolt of warmth and pleasure radiated from a brush of teeth on her skin.

"None of that now. Off of her." Ignis said brandishing his spatula. He raised an eyebrow at the male shifter's expression but slipped off of her and into the next seat.

Taking a deep breath she shook herself out of the unexpected fog and glared at the shifter next to her. "Do that again and I sic Ignis on you. He won't be as nice as I would be."

To her surprise he stood up and bowed, deep and formal to her. "My apologies, My Lady. You smelled too good this morning with my scent mingled with yours. I will do better and control myself from now on." He straightened up and looked her directly in the eyes. He seemed sincere to her. "May I?" He motioned to the seat he had just vacated.

She nodded and he sat back down. "Don't play on my glands like that. This is hard enough to not lose myself." She said quietly, as she turned back to her food.

"I understand. I am sorry, Lilliana. It won't happen again." She didn't realize to what extent her scent had changed right after that exchange and how uneasy the Alpha felt smelling a distressed Omega, in heat no less, right next to him. And he had caused it. He had to make it better somehow. He wanted 'his' Omega happy. If suppressing every instinct he had to claim her as his was the answer, then he would do it. For the remainder of the day he tried everything he could to make her smile at every opportunity.

Every one of the shifters were acting strangely after they got up and entered into the main living areas. They kept giving her furtive glances and a few conferred with Genesis in angry hisses. It got to the point where she just flat out hid in Noct's room. She had no idea why they were acting so strange around her.

Justice found her in there, hiding under Noct's covers a bit later. "You really are like a new Omega aren't you? Alright, first you haven't done anything wrong. What happened was your scent changed from 'In Heat' to 'Distressed Omega' and it's thrown everyone off their game. You've never let your Omega out so you don't know how strong scent affects the Alphas. Omegas in heat are supposed to be happy and sensual, not scared and distressed. Since Genesis caused the scent change, he's freaking out trying to make up for it. The others are trying to figure out why your scent changed and have been confronting him about it. He won't say anything, only that he messed up, and that's making them more angsty. Want to talk about it?" At her sullen expression he rolled his eyes, "Let me rephrase. We are going to talk about this. No buts. In this I'm Alpha. Now talk." She glared at him but started talking and explained what had happened that morning. "Ok, this is actually easily fixable. You just need to let him scent mark you. Hear me out! He thinks you rejected him, that he's the cause for your distress. It's not him though, it's you not understanding yourself and your reactions, right? If you let him scent mark you, then he will stop freaking out, your Omega will calm down, and everyone can start relaxing. As much as a bunch of Alphas can with an 'In Heat' Omega around."

"You sure that'll work? I've never done, well, any of it. I don't even know how." she trailed off turning red and burying herself deeper into the covers.

"Hey." He pulled the covers up to peek at her. "Let your instincts lead you for this. You don't have to do anything but your Omega knows what it wants and how to get it." He smiled at her and held out his hand. He drew her out slowly and led her into the other room.

"Alright. Shifters get your butts over here. We need to have a meeting." Justice called out as soon as they reached open floor. He looked over each of them as they approached gauging where to start and pointed sternly at Destiny. "First. You need to pick a side and stay on it. You're gonna mess her up further if you don't. Yes I know what you are, don't look so stunned. I lived in a true nest unlike all of you. Next. Mara. You and Genesis either need to cut it out or fight it out. This Alpha dance is driving me insane. You know her choice already from the other day so either drop it or fight for her. Finally. Genesis. Come over here."

The shifters looked at him funny as he barked out the orders to each of them. Even Lilly was taken aback a bit by the change in his demeanor from the shy guy they've come to know. "Do not test me guys or I will show you how an angry Omega actually rules the nest. Genesis come here, now. Give me your wrist." He grabbed the shorter man's wrist as he approached and looked distastefully at it. He mumbled "Out of season Alpha" to himself and then bit down firmly on the softer underside of it.

If Genesis were a flower, pollen would be puffed out of him in a cloud. As it was, mating scent wafted off the man in waves. Instead of a cry of pain and a reflex of pulling his arm away from his attacker, he let out a startled gasp and his knees weakened to the point Justice had to hold him up for support. Justice let go of his bite and held the wrist out to Lilly. "Rub his wrist on your neck. Your glands specifically. It'll make you and them feel better." He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Just do it. He's not hurt just aroused."

She had covered her nose as soon as she had smelled the pheromones from the other shifter. They smelled too good and she just wanted to drown in them, but she also wanted to keep her head. She warred with her Omega until Justice beckoned her forward. She snuck closer and rubbed Gen's wrist on her neck. Her Omega side calmed down right away, purring happily, and her stance relaxed, all unease gone. After a few more seconds Justice hefted Genesis over his shoulder and walked away from Lilly, the man protesting the whole time. "You want more? Follow me."

The other shifters, and humans in the other room, watched the exchange in mild surprise and horror that their tall, shy, timid, shifter could take charge like that without the Alpha able to protest successfully at all. Lilly just wanted to follow the scent and the Alpha it was coming from.

Justice led the way to the door of Lilly's nest and stopped. "Genesis stop squirming or I'll have to do something about it. Yes, she wants you, stop arguing with me. Fine, Lilliana, will you allow me to deposit Genesis in your nest so you can scent mark him?" He turned to the Omega female following him, looking slightly dazed. He snapped his fingers once in front of her face and the dazed look disappeared. "Lilliana. Will you allow me to deposit Genesis in your nest so you can willingly scent mark him?" He repeated to her "You say no and I'll not enter or force him near you. You lead in this."

"I." She started and stumbled on her words. The encouraging look she received helped immensely and she cleared her throat. More steady than she had felt in the last few days she said "Yes. I will allow this." She stepped into the room first and stood to the side. Justice carried Genesis into the middle of the room and set him down on his feet. He whispered something to the other shifter she couldn't catch and left the room, closing the door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be more to this but any NSFW will be put down as it's own little thing as I don't want the main storyline to go further than Teen+Up


	16. You can never have enough dads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heats are rough, but Lilly has Regis and Clarus to check up on her and make sure everything went smoothly.

Heats were a witch. She had forgotten how much one took out of her. Could've been worse though. Usually she didn't have an Alpha partner and an actual nest to hide in during it. This time, though, she had three Alphas and an Omega to help her through it. She didn't even have to pretend to not be an Omega. It was such a new and different experience this time around.

As it was, she just wanted to snuggle up to her Alpha and sleep for the next week. The call of food was too strong to compete with though, so she stumbled blearily out of Genesis' room, and her nest, to go and find sustenance. The other shifter was as worn out as she felt trying to keep up with the 'new' Omega and was passed out dead to the world, recovering.

She made it all the way into the refrigerator before it registered that there were other people in the same room with her. Peeking cautiously around the open door, she came face to face with two sets of eyes watching her with barely contained myrth. That she made some undignified squeak of surprise would forever be nothing more than a rumor that she denied every time.

"Your Majesty. Sir Clarus. What are you doing here? I can go find Noct if you need him. He's probably just sleeping." She closed the door and started moving away towards the human's hallway when a raised hand forestalled her.  


"That won't be necessary Lilliana. We aren't here for my son." The King said with a kind smile. "We are here to see you, my dear."

Seeing the confusion on her face, Clarus interjected. "You haven't been to training in two weeks. We were just making sure everything is alright with you and the new shifters."

_ Hadn't been to training? _ Her face slowly turned a deep shade of red as she realized why she hadn't been to training. She bowed low to cover her embarrassment "I'm sorry Sir's. I completely forgot to inform you as to my absence. It was so sudden I didn't even think."

She stopped her explanation at the mention of her name from the King. "Lilly. It's alright. We know why you were absent. You aren't the first pet to be in the Citadel and you certainly won't be the last. We just wanted to check up on you. We know heats can be a little hard on some shifters and sometimes, things happen that are regretted later."

"Are there any heads that need to be removed from the remainder of their bodies is what Regis is asking, dear." Clarus asked bluntly.

"Sirs! What? No! No one needs to remove anything." She stood up straight, waving her hands in a desperate attempt to stop their train of thought. At their obvious laughter, she dropped her hands and sighed. Chuckling to herself she sat down at the table with them and gave them a genuine smile. "No. It's actually been a good heat this time. They all have been so helpful and supportive. When I told them No, they listened. Justice has been the best too. I know we had a rocky start, but he has taught me so much these past few weeks about letting my Omega take over. I can't even begin to thank him."

Genesis came out of the bedroom yawning and looking for Lilly. He had woken up alone and was mildly panicking that his Omega was gone. He followed her scent to the kitchen and he finally relaxed when he saw her happy and smiling. He had eyes only for his Omega and didn't notice the two humans sitting with her until he was draped over her shoulders asking why she had left and to come back to bed.

She swatted at his arms curled around her and shook her head to clear the momentary fog of contentment his scent put her in. "Gen. Morning. Have you met Noct's and Gladio's fathers? His Majesty Regis Lucius Caelum and his Shield, Clarus Amicitia." She hid a smile of amusement when she felt him stiffen in surprise. "Finally noticed them?" She teased, giving his cheek a nuzzle.

Glancing back at the King and Shield, she saw them looking at the male shifter seriously.

"So you say this one is a match for your son? I don't see how. He looks pretty weak to me." The King said appraisingly to his Shield.

"Gladio is still learning, but yes, he doesn't look like he would be able to protect himself, let alone his mate. We might have to find someone else for her." Clarus said just as seriously.

She felt Genesis still and felt more than heard a low growl start from him. The arms around her tightened and pricks of claws dug into her arms. Looking down she saw his hands were half turned and glancing up she saw his eyes narrowed at the two humans.

She squirmed to get out of his hold but he refused to loosen his grip on her, so she did the only logical thing she could think of. She bit him. "Hey. They're just messing with you Gen. Don't do anything you'll regret later."

His glare changed directions down to her for a moment before it was blinked away. His eyes widened in mild panic as he realized he was about to attack the King over threatening to take away his Omega.

Before he could start saying anything she bumped his head lightly with her own. She glared at the two humans who were looking only mildly sheepish.

"We needed to make sure our Lilliana was being taken care of sufficiently. Your reactions, and hers, have told us that she has been. If she had reacted negatively to you or our talk then we would've taken measures to rectify this. As is, she is happy with you and where she is." The King said to Genesis.

"Mark my words though, if any of you step out of line and hurt her or any of our family, you won't see the end of the day. Am I clear?" Clarus said in the most menacing tone she had ever heard from him.  


Genesis, who hadn't let go of her in the least, met both sets of eyes staring daggers into him. He bowed his head in acknowledgement and said in just as serious a tone. "She is my Omega. I protect what is mine and will never hurt her or allow her to get hurt in any way. She is my jewel and flower and I will not allow any to make her fade or wilt. She is mine and I am hers as long as she will allow it."

He looked down at her and grinned, more like the usual self she had gotten to know. "I'd give her a mating mark but I'm pretty sure she'd kill me if I tried." All the men laughed as Gen dodged a punch in his direction.

She was so red even a lobster would be jealous of her color. How can he be so casual about saying that? For one thing it's super sappy and second that was a version of a mate declaration an Alpha said to the Omega's parent or guardian! She had heard about it in stories that some of the inventory shifters told the younger kits to keep their spirits up, but never thought she'd hear it spoken outside of a story. And especially not about her.

She was distracted by her thoughts just enough that Genesis caught her wrist and pulled her to his chest, wrapping his free arm around her. He leaned down and put his forehead to hers and whispered "I say so willingly and truthfully. I would love if you would be mine. You are special and I felt it instantly even when I thought you were an Alpha. I know it is sudden and I will not push for an answer. Take your time."

He pulled back and smiled "I need time to ask your other important people if they'll agree to this as well."

"Yeeeeeah. No. Not gonna happen." A long drawn out answer appeared out of thin air at the same time as the Prince. "You're going to have to earn that one." He said as he grabbed Lilly from Genesis's arms and disappeared with her in a shower of sparks.

They reappeared a moment later in the living room and Noct pulled her down with him onto the couch. Prompto joined then, hemming her in closely on both sides. "We may not be Shifters, but she's our Lilly. We won't give approval easily" Prom called over to the stunned shifter.

"Some of us have higher standards than others, though. You'll have to pass all our requirements." The smooth accent of Ignis came from behind Genesis. He was leaning on the kitchen counter idly testing the sharpness of his daggers. Gladio was leaning next to him giving Genesis the full weight of the Amicitia glare. No one had heard them slip into the kitchen and the King and Shield hadn't given away that the boys had appeared.

"I see her guardians have spoken. We aren't needed here anymore it seems, Clarus." Regis said amusement evident in his voice.

"It seems so Regis. She's in good hands." Clarus smirked back and they both rose, saying their goodbyes, and departed from the Prince's suite.

Lilly, for her part, kept a quiet amused eye on the entire exchange. She hadn't seen this much posturing by the guys since the last time that one Princess was getting too grabby with her Master at that one party. Her Omega was purring that she had such strong males around her to protect her, while her normal feelings were on the edge of incredulity at the entire situation. She could take care of herself, but she had to admit, being protected like this was kind of nice. Even if it was over the top.

She decided she would tell Genesis her answer later, after she had thought about it for a while. For now though, she snuggled deeper into the warmth of the humans around her, happy and content. Her Alphas may not be shifters, but they protected her all the same and she loved each and every one of them.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what I'm doing. This has been my first attempt to write Ever. I'm having any to much fun with this to stop anytime soon ^_^
> 
> I have to thank @Vannja and @Jodine16 for encouraging me to even attempt this


End file.
